School fires: Have an emergency plan
A police officer inspects a burnt dormitory at Good Times Infant School in Kawaala, Kampala, on February 22, 2022. A year-long investigation into the cause of school fires has revealed that most fires were deliberate acts of arson. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- We might not be able to prevent arson aside from trying as much as possible to institute high levels of security and surveillance but we surely can have a good contingency plan in case of fires.
- As schools prepare to close for the holiday, we pray that the different stakeholders use the break to evaluate their emergency plans, install the necessary fight-fighting equipment, and get rid of anything that puts the lives of learners in danger.
Findings from a countrywide investigation carried out by the National Building Review Board reveal that most fires were a deliberate act of treason.
The investigation carried out between May 2022 and May 2023 to determine the cause of fires shows that 50 percent of the fires gut commercial structures, 35 percent schools, and the remainder gut residential properties.
In schools, some of the other causes cited were negligence among students, poor maintenance of school property revealed by electricity wires being eaten up by rats, etc, congestion of students in dormitories, lack of fire safety training, lack of fire assembly points, firefighting equipment like extinguishers, hydrants, etc and those in existence are expired or the learners and school staff don’t know how to use them, etc.
There was also the issue of dormitories that still have burglar-proof windows and cases where the dormitories are locked by the matrons who sleep at a different location leaving the learners with no quick and easy escape route in case of a fire.
Going back to the main cause of these fires being arson, there is no set-out way of stopping the evil intentions of arsonists but the schools can fight this by always having an emergency plan. Control what you can by having a well-thought-out backup plan in case of a fire.
With the number of fires that happen in schools, it would be foolhardy to throw caution to the wind and not make sure that certain steps are taken as a form of offensive plan. It is difficult to understand why some schools still have burglar-proofing on dormitory windows or have one point of access to a dormitory that houses more than a hundred learners. Or why an established school wouldn’t carry out fire drills let alone make sure to have functional firefighting equipment? Or why some schools insist on congesting dormitories just so they can have more students which means more money coming in by way of school fees without incurring any extra costs that come with expansion?
We might not be able to prevent arson aside from trying as much as possible to institute high levels of security and surveillance but we surely can have a good contingency plan in case of fires.
As schools prepare to close for the holiday, we pray that the different stakeholders use the break to evaluate their emergency plans, install the necessary fight-fighting equipment, and get rid of anything that puts the lives of learners in danger.
