Kinshasa, February 11th, 2026 (CPA).– Ten (10) tin houses have been ravaged by a fire that has occurred on Tuesday night at the Bumba military camp in Lemba, a municipality in central Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it has been learned from a military source. ‘We have all noticed a short circuit around midnight. I went outside to see what was happening. This electrical incident has caused a violent fire that has quickly ravaged 10 houses, including three containers and seven tin houses, notably a drinks warehouse, a cold store, a clothing store, a workshop and six shops, but no loss of life has been registered,’ has declared Claude Mbombo, a colonel in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), who lives in Camp Bumba.
« I have received this information at quarter past midnight from a resident of our municipality who has called me and has sent me images. I immediately set to work to try to find a solution to this fire. We have called Snel to cut off the power first, and the fire-fighters to put out the fire, but they were not available due to an emergency elsewhere. Others, due to a lack of material resources, could not intervene in time. Thank God the young people from the Bumba camp have been obliged to extinguish the fire themselves, » has said Jean Serge Poba, burgomaster of Lemba. He has, in this regard, encouraged the young people who have taken this courageous initiative, without which there would have been more damage.
« I encourage all the young people involved in extinguishing the fire. This is a good thing in the event of a problem like this, because while we wait for the emergency services to arrive, we can already save human lives and reduce material damage. I congratulate the young people of Lemba, because whenever there are fires, they are always present to try to extinguish them. I ask them to continue doing so, » he has concluded. More than 150 tin houses have been ravaged by a fire that has occurred in September 2025 at Camp Kabila, in the same municipality of Lemba. Although no loss of life has been reported, significant material damages have been deplored, and an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the fire and to establish the responsibilities, as several families were left homeless.