By CHILA NAMAIKO –
THE kitchen block at Choma Secondary School containing property worth thousands of Kwacha has been reduced to ashes after a fire swept through it in the early hours of yesterday.
This comes just a few days after the kitchen block at Macha Secondary School in Choma containing property worth more than K300,000 was also burnt to ashes.
Both Choma and Macha secondary schools are being run by  Brethren-In-Christ Church.
At Choma Secondary School, the cause of the fire, which started around 02:00 hours, is  suspected to have been triggered by an electrical fault within the kitchen.
A check by the Times around 08:00 hours yesterday, found the kitchen including the roof, burnt to ashes and pupils and teachers watching helplessly.
The inferno destroyed the kitchen block and disturbed preparation of food for the 1,300 girls and boys who are boarders.
In an interview, Head teacher Samuel Mudenda said among other items destroyed were, seven school electrical pots, 193 serving dishes, four doors and 270 kilogrammes of cabbage.
“Around 02:00 hours, we just heard sounds like gun-shots in the air and I smelt smoke from the school kitchen side and that is how I rushed there and found it was a fire,” he said.
He said, the fire brigade and Zesco workers were called and with the help of pupils, managed to put out the fire around 03:30 hours although many items had already been gutted.
Mr Mudenda said the school had made arrangements to prepare food for pupils using firewood. He appealed for assistance from various stakeholders.
District Commissioner Bernadette Hamweemba, who rushed to the school when the fire started, described the incident as a misfortune.
She urged the police to thoroughly investigate the increased fire incidences being experienced citing the recent cases at Macha and Sikalongo secondary schools within a short period.