By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The National Fire Force has trained over one hundred fire prevention volunteers from over forty communities in two districts in the eastern region.
The regional commander east National Fire Force Sheku Baba Sesay disclosed that the initiative of training fire prevention volunteers came out of an idea of the rapid result approach system since fire force personnel are not available in the many communities where fire disasters do occur.
He said one of the appropriate ways to help put under control fire incidents is to train fire prevention volunteers at local level. “Every quarter we will train fifty to seven five fire prevention volunteers from different communities”.
Sheku Baba Sesay maintained that since the time they conducted the training there has been no major fire outbreak in both Kailahun and Kenema districts, adding that the two districts have been an interception as a result of the training provided for volunteers in the communities.
The regional commander fire force reiterated that since the beginning of 2021 they have recorded twelve fire incidents but only two were major ones that caused destruction on properties worth millions of Leones. The others were able to put under control through the help of the fire prevention volunteers being trained. Sesay pointed out that there is an officer within the fire force in charge of fire prevention that leads the volunteers on fire prevention sensitization campaigns.
”We do preach to people not to leave their electrical appliances in offices and the houses plugged on the switches when going out. The volunteers have in turn embarked on sensitizing their communities on fire prevention which has helped greatly”, he said.
The fire force commander revealed that initially people kept fuel in their houses during shortage of the product and they had to resort to seizing the fuel. Sesay stated that the fire engines for Kenema and Kailahun are functioning well and personnel are always on standby to respond to any incident as long it is reported to them on time.
He said they do face difficulties such as late information from the public on fire incidents and called on the public to always put in place fire preventive measures.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (14/04/21)
