A fire outbreak which occurred at Susan’s Bay on Thursday 13th October 2022 has left fourteen families homeless with the volume of property loss estimated as exceeding Le (Old) 200, 000, 000.
Susan’s Bay, one of the most deprived slum communities in the Western Urban District has again suffered from fire disaster just over a year ago when fire gutted homes and rendered homeless more than one thousand people.
“We were unable to save anything, “said Marie Bangura, one of the victims of the accident. According to Marie the fire started at 7: 00 pm from within the room of one of her neighbours who was not at home. According to her the fire started a couple of minutes after EDSA supplied power which was absent for almost throughout the rest of that day. She was indicating that the source of the fire was the result of erratic mode of electricity supply; i.e. The frequent power outages and supply several times in a day.
This account was also given by another affected person, Kumba Alie, a mother of three.
Her husband was not at home and her two-year-old son was narrowly escaped being killed in the flames except for the vigilance of some youths and other neighbours in the community.
Mustapha Mansaray another close-door neighbour said the young people are in a heightened state of vigilance to extend a helping hand if any such incident should reoccur. In fact, Mustapha said “we now have community safety volunteers (CSVs)” who are always ready to respond to such emergencies.
According to him they physically had to put down a shack which had stood immediately next to the room where the fire started. He added that the National Fire Force arrived on time and complemented their effort and put down the fire before it could transfer to the neighboring structures.
Kumba Alie, while talking to Premier News said the local community Chairman and the Chief paid them a visit and sympathized with them. She also said most humanitarian organisation or government agency has given them anything, except for the Red Cross who visited them, assessed their needs and registerd them.
The property loss in this incident is estimated as exceeding Le (Old) 200, 000, 000 said Kumba Alie. She said that they had lost their freezers, plasma televisions, mattresses, carpets, physical cash etc.
Mr. Ishmail G. Kamara, Chairman of Susan’s Bay Community Development Union said the incidents of the fire in the community is mostly caused by poor and unprofessional electrical installations coupled with compact dwellings which are mostly made of zinc and wood. He also that said since the last devastating fire in March 2021, most of the structures being built are concrete, which he added is to help reduce the incidences of fire in the community.
Meanwhile, the affected people are calling on government and aid agencies to come to their relief.