By Kemo Cham and Mabinty Kamara
The last two months have been a difficult period for the National Fire Force of Sierra Leone. It has had to deal with dozens of fire outbreaks in quick successions.
It began with the outbreak at the Shell Station in Kissy in the east end of Freetown. And even before the cause of that was ascertained, the fifth floor of the headquarters of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) went ablaze.
For EDSA, it has become a routine, almost every year within the last three years. And it is curious that none of those incidents have been preceded by any conclusive investigation, at least not to the knowledge of the public.
No one entity can be held responsible for this singularly though. The police, the fire force, and in this case the energy ministry, collectively owe the people of Sierra Leone an explanation. This is important in that the cases of Electricity House, as the EDSA headquarters is also known, have been shrouded in suspicion. There is strongly held perception out there that some people may have reasons to destroy evidence of corruption. And recent development suggesting the arrest of some EDSA staff suspected of deliberately setting the building alight, in the second fire incidents in less than three weeks, gives credence to these feelings.
Chief Fire Officer, Nazir Ahmad Kamanda Bongay, wouldn’t be drawn into making conclusions. He told Politico that his team had concluded investigations and submitted reports to relevant authorities on three of the most notable recent fire incidents - Youyi Building, SALPOST, and EDSA. He said all reports have been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Sierra Leone Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“If there is anything that borders on criminality the CID will do their investigation. But for the electricity issue, people have already been charged based on our report and have been prosecuted by the police,” the chief fire officer said in an interview.
With regards the EDSA incidents, recently some other theories have been floated for the frequent fire outbreaks.
Energy Minister, Henry Macauley, told a press conference following the December 28 incident that the age of the building meant it had become highly susceptible to fire outbreaks.
Fire fighting ability
Whatever the causes are they can be ascertained only by a thorough and conclusive investigation. And while the relevant authorities are at it, the government should also seriously look into the country’s fire fighting ability.
Between 26 December, 2015 -- the day of Shell Station incident -- and the end of January, 2016 the National Fire Force (NFF) has responded to over 41 fire incidents. The causes have been varied. They range from poor electrical connections to careless handling of fires during cooking.
Senior officers have said the last few weeks from December last year had exposed how much under equipped the NFF was in terms of fighting fire.
Under pressure from the recent spate of fire outbreaks, the ministries of Internal Affairs and Water Resources held a soul searching meeting early last month which concluded that there were enough fire hydrants dotted across the capital city, but that only two – at Brookfields and Juba – were functioning at every given time. This, for a population of over two million, sounds unimpressive for many who know how fire fighting works.
But NFF officials say even these two hydrants hardly contain enough water, so that it is common for fire fighters to find themselves helpless in fire-fighting situations where the engines run out of water.
“Going out of water is a normal routine,” said Bongay, adding that a water tank would take a maximum of ten thousand litres that could be emptied within five to ten minutes based on the pressure. And some of the horses are punctured and so water is lost fast.
“Sometimes when we have used what we have in the engine we have to go all the way to Brookfields to get more to put out a fire,” said Alhaji Alasan Kamara, Divisional Head and Personal Assistant to the Assistant Chief Fire Officer.
Besides water constraints, traffic congestion, exacerbated by Freetown’s extremely narrow motor ways, the fire fighters had many a time arrived after a building was already beyond rescue. In some cases buildings were watched by the NFF to burn down to ashes helplessly.
At around the same time of the first EDSA fire outbreak, there was a fire incident at Bombay Street in the east of the city, and because of the narrowness of the road the fire engine could not reach the building on fire. They were forced to return to base, living the troubled residents to fight for themselves.
This has sometimes led to violent reaction by frustrated residents displeased with the performance of the NFF.
Worse
With all this, the individual fire fighters work with virtually no incentive. Remuneration is one of the lowest in the civil service.
Insurance is to a fire fighter, what oxygen is to life. The very few members of the NFF who have bought personal insurance did so from their pocket.
That’s why the generous donation of Le2 million (US$ 400) to nine fire fighters injured at the Shell and EDSA incidents came in handy. The benefactor, Alhaji Saccoh, a volunteer US-based Sierra Leonean fire fighter, was attracted to NFF in 2013 while on a vacation.
Saccoh voluntarily worked with the fire force at the Shell incident and on 28 December incident at the EDSA headquarters. Both experiences exposed the severity of the problems faced by the national fire force, he told Politico.
He said addressing the equipment issue was crucial if the fire force were to be effective.
Saccoh has lived in the US for 16 years, and in the last five years he’s been serving as a volunteer fire fighter with the African Fire Mission (AFM), an organization that helps rebuild fire departments in East Africa. He told Politico that he was lobbying the AFM to secure a US$1m worth of equipment and gears for the NFF.
“When I came back home in 2013 and decided to visit the fire department to see how I could help, I saw that there was a lot of help needed to really do a job that is very risky. This time round when I came back I have visited all the fire stations in the regions and found out that they are worse than Circular Road,” he said.
The Circular Road fire station is the headquarters of the NFF.
Saccoh said the sorry and vulnerable state of the fire fighters moved him to open an online donation after the 26 December Shell Filling Station incident.
Besides the two hydrants in Freetown, the NFF has 10 fire hydrants each in Bo, Kenema and Makeni. Among these stations there are about 500 staff members. All this for eight fire engines across the country – six at Circular Road, one in Aberdeen, and one in Kissy. Bongay said until very recently there used to be only one fire engine in the whole country.
The Chief Fire Officer said the “very, very small” staff base was affecting their ability to tackle fire incidents. He looks forward to a “massive recruitment” drive in February. His plan is to extend fire engines to Kono, Kambia and Moyamba, with the new fleet of fire engines supplied by the government.
Dire need of drugs
By statutory provision, the National Fire Force, besides fire-fighting, is also charged with rescue operations at sea, on road and air accidents. But considering its ill-equipped nature on the ground, venturing beyond this realm remains a mere dream.
Kamara, the Personal Assistant to the Assistant Chief Fire Officer, said acquisition of equipment was their major priority for now to be able to fight fire in the country and save lives and properties.
Amidst all this trouble fire fighters sometimes have to deal with “hooliganism”, in the words of the Chief Fire Officer. There have been reports of residents taking it out on the fire fighters when their properties get burnt without getting help. But Mr Bongay said most of the attacks were driven by motives to steal from the real fire victims. He singled out the eastern part of the city as most notorious for this.
But sometimes such hostile responses to the NFF have been driven by genuine expression of frustration, as was the case last week end when a house on Siaka Stevens Street burnt down helplessly. Fire fighters were reportedly pelted with stones for their perceived untimely response.
The relevant authorities may also have to look at personal protection for the fire fighters. For instance, individual fire fighters who got injured were making arrangement to pay for their medical bills after the Shell Station and EDSA incidents.
Alusine Sesay, one of the beneficiaries of the donation by Alhaji Saccoh, had been taking to be treated at the Connaught Hospital where they were all admitted. He sustained burns on his face, ears, and hands. He was still under treatment when he managed to take himself to receive his share of the largess. Sesay told Politico that he needed the money to complete his treatment.
Jonathan Campbell, head of Medical and Rescue Unit at the NFF, hailed Saccoh’s donation, saying it was the first time they had had such for injured fire fighters.
Campbell said the NFF usually only provide first aid treatment and when an injury was serious the victim would be referred to the Connaught Hospital. The unit, he said, was in dire need of drugs and even manpower.
Crispina Taylor contributed to the piece
(C) Politico 03/02/16
