New regulations to enforce existing fire safety laws will help chart national path toward fire disaster control.

Concerns about losses associated with fire had rattled many people following a recent spate of fire outbreaks in the country.

The instructions, issued by the prime minister, were published in the Official Gazette last week; days after fire gutted a building in the City of Kigali’s busy commercial centre, commonly known as Quartier Mateus.

The latest incident that left traders counting losses, followed another fire that burnt Rubavu Prison killing five people and injuring 60.  

The new instructions cover public places, national parks, forests, and storage facilities. They also cover transportation and use of inflammable materials in the country.

Under the new rules, a fire safety assessment will be done for all existing public buildings or other public places every three years. 

Any public building or other public place shall have, at a minimum: A fire alarm system with an alarm bell on each floor; smoke detectors and sprinklers on each floor; a fire extinguisher every 50 metres on each floor; hose reels on each floor; closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and a control room; and a lightning arrester or rod.

The instructions are welcome news to fire safety experts who can’t wait to see their implementation to mitigate increasing fire hazards in the country.

Enforcers should step in

But Ignatius Mugabo, the manager of Mugolds International Fire Risk Management Ltd, told The New Times that government inspectors will need to step in to force people to take fire safety seriously.

He believes compelling managers of buildings to deploy functional fire safety infrastructure is feasible with new government regulatory laws.

As an expert in this area, the situation was worrisome, he said, you cannot entirely avoid accidents but what you can do is to mitigate them.

"I feel a bit disappointed that people were not listening–this is an issue that impacts everyone,” he said in an interview last week.

The expert said regulations that include sanctions on those who violate standards were needed to facilitate enforcement of standards.

The regulations were expected since three years ago when the government engaged its different departments and the private sector to try and enact more detailed fire safety regulations.

The drafting of the regulations was spearheaded by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midimar) and the Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) and then given to the Rwanda Law Reform Commission for legal drafting before being approved by cabinet.

Experts in the fire safety sector say the new regulations will make the implementation of fire safety standards smoother because it gives a basis to both sensitise people about the standards but also oblige those who disregard them to just stop.

"It’s going to be a law, it’s no more a simple advice,” said Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva, the director of research and public awareness at Midimar.

Nsengiyumva said the new fire safety regulations require every government and municipal department to regularly have budgets for fire safety and will ensure that both private and public facilities are regularly cleared for fire safety before acquiring occupancy permits.

‘Regulation has been lax’

The director of Housing Inspection Unit at RHA, Harouna Nshimiyimana, agreed that the old regulatory policy for housing was not enough to allow enforcement of fire safety regulations.

It was not detailed, he said, adding that he relies on the current Building Control Regulations to tell investors about fire safety.

Nshimiyimana said the new fire safety regulations are detailed and accompanied by an explanation of sanctions that could be handed to those who do not comply with standards.

Since 2011, momentum for respecting fire safety standards in the country had been upped, with the City of Kigali issuing Occupancy Permits for developers for the first time after clearing them for fire safety requirements.

The city has since registered more than 150 public and private facilities that were built before 2011 in disregard of fire safety infrastructure and advised owners to adopt the current standards.

"A lot has been done on the part of mobilisation and putting in place the necessary requirements in the old buildings,” said Bruno Rangira, the director of media and communication in the City of Kigali.

Rangira said Police have helped take the fire safety campaign farther by signing performance contracts (Imihigo) with executive secretaries at the sector level to put in place fire fighting equipment in all public places such as offices and trading centres.

But experts say such campaigns will need to be scaled up across the country to ensure that a fast developing Rwanda does so with a sense of safety.

 Hopes remain high that new government regulations on fire safety will go a long way in enabling that.

 All you need to do is to set up the law and proceed with awareness campaigns-Rwandans are law abiding citizens; they will be compliant with clear laws in their interest, Mugabo says.