Only two fire stations for Dar's 5 million residents

Only two fire stations for Dar's 5 million residents

Fikiri Salla, Fire and Rescue Force Acting Commissioner (Public Safety Division)

Dar es salaam has a population of nearly five million but depends on only two fully fledged fire stations, which has severely crippled the Fire and Rescue Force’s ability to respond effectively to disasters.

As a result, the presence of the Fire and Rescue Force is not felt across many parts of the country.

 

In a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday, Fire and Rescue Force Acting Commissioner (Public Safety Division), Fikiri Salla, said at the moment the city has only two fire stations and the construction of third station is almost complete.

 

“We have one at Tazara area in Ilala municipality and another at Fire area along Morogoro Road whereby is also the force’s headquarters. The third fire brigade is at  Lugalo Barracks on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

 

According to him Fire and Rescue Force has started an expansion drive that is expected  to see their presence felt across many parts of the country. 

“For us to serve the public well we need more four substations. We thank the National Housing Corporation for their contribution to construct one station at Kigamboni area. The other three will be erected at Mabibo Jeshini, Mbagala and Ukonga areas,” he noted.

 

However, he did not say when such stations will be constructed citing  lack of funds  as one of the challenges facing the force.

Salla said  in order to construct one station  they ought to raise about 300m/- plus at least two cars each worth 1bn/-.

 

“Fire incidents are increasing day after day, therefore the force has embarked on a drive to improve its services by building more stations that will be serving the public and respond on time when fire incidents occur,” he said

Apart from increasing number of stations, Salla said the force needs more modern equipment including cars for fire fighting and rescue services.

However, he called on the public to abide by safety rules such as putting in place fire extinguishers in case of emergency.

 

He said it is compulsory for fire extinguishers to be put in offices, factories and other big buildings.

 

Commenting on the fire incident which happened on February 7 this year in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, Salla said the force got information late as a result they failed to respond on time.

“We received the information very late, that was the reason we failed to save lives and property .Had we received the information much earlier we could have managed to serve the family since there was no traffic jam at the time of the incident,” said Salla.

 

Six members of the same family of retired captain of Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF), were burnt to death after their house was gutted by fire at Kipunguni A area, Ukonga Banana in Ilala District last Saturday.

 

Ilala Regional Police Commander (RPC), Mary Nzuki confirmed the incident saying fire broke-out  at the house of one David Mpira, a retired TPDF captain, adding Mpira, aged between 55 and 60, is among the deceased persons.

 

Nzuki named the other deceased persons as Selina Yegela, the wife of captain Mpira and former worker with Swissport. She is aged between 50 and 55.

 

The fire also led to the death of Lucas Mpira and Samweli Yegela. They were aged between 20 and 30.

Other deceased persons include two grand-children of the couple identified as Selina Emmanuel (9), a standard two pupil at Minazi Mrefu Primary School and Pauline Emmanuel (3) a kindergarten pupil at Tumain Nursery School in Kitunda area.

 

The only surving member of the family is Emmanuel Mpira who was outside of the house when the fire brokeout.

 

According to family spokesperson burial ceremony will take place tomorrow and the deceased persons are expected to be laid to rest tomorrow at Airwing Ukonga  cemetery, in Dar es Salaam.

 

Commenting on the cause of the incident, the RPC said investigations were ongoing to establish the source of the fire. “Police in collaboration with TANESCO officials are investigating to establish the cause of the fire,” she said.

 

However, reliable sources said that electric fault set the house ablaze after midnight.

The bodies of the deceased have been preserved at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) pending police investigations.

 

According to RPC Nzuki the bodies were burnt beyond recognition .

In the same vein, neighbours said firefighters from the brigade arrived around 07:30 hours despite the several calls they made immediately after the outbreak. 

 

The firefighters appeared only to find the police taking the dead bodies to the hospital for preservation.

Salla called upon the public to cultivate the habit of reporting fire incidents timely in order to save lives and property.