The Chief Fire Officer for Sierra Leone’s National Fire Force (NFF), Nazir Kamanda Bongay, has said the force faces huge challenges in running and in fulfilling its mandate to prevent and control fire accidents in the country.
He made this statement during the Budget hearing for 2021 process which was held at the Ministry of Finance conference room in Freetown.
In his presentation, Bongay noted that fire incidents have increased, with the Western Area accounting for 58.2% out of the total (224 fire incident). He added that the Northern region recorded the second highest with 26.0% having 100 fire incident, followed by southern region with 8.3 % in 32 cases and Eastern region with 7.5% cases out of 29 fire incidents from January to August 2020.
He said that the National Fire Force is constrained with limited number of firefighters, fire engines, equipment and chemicals to respond to fire incidents nationwide.
“Equipment available for firefighting, search and rescue operations fall short of the number required to effectively and efficiently discharge our duty of saving lives and property under threat through fire incidents. The force is therefore faced with a daunting national task to respond to emergencies with very limited capacity,” Bongay emphasized.
He asserted that fire accidents and the hazards which accompany them, makes the need to improve the capacity of the National Fire Force a critical imperative.
He revealed that the incidence of fire has drastically increased, and has led to the destruction of property and many lives across the country. He added that other fire related problems facing poor innocent fire victims in the country included huge medical bills, psychological imbalances, trauma, housing and other related difficulties.
The Chief Fire Officer said that another major challenge which the National Fire Force has is that there are not enough hydrants in many parts of the city of Freetown. He said that many of the hydrants which had once been operational were no longer functional because they had been damaged during road maintenance.
“We are also challenged with vehicular and human traffic that has resulted to immense congestions within the city impeding the smooth running of fire engines when there is a fire outbreak which often leads to disastrous consequences,” he said.
He noted that inadequate budget and inaccessibility to funds for emergencies such as the immediate repairs of fire engines, poses huge constraints on the operational capability of the department.
By George M.O. Williams
19/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7933