Fire outbreaks: Probe report faults institutions

A commission of inquiry established to investigate the cause of recent fires that ravaged several structures, including shops and prisons, has put several institutions to task over failure to manage situations that led to fire outbreak. After a spate of fire outbreaks across the country – which were most rampant in July – a taskforce comprising Police, Energy Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA), Rwanda Housing Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure was constituted to investigate the possible causes. The team has since come up with a report on their findings and also made recommendations depending on the causes of the fires that have claimed some six people. The report, a copy of which The New Times has seen, faults, among others, Rwanda Correctional Service for poor oversight of inmates inside the prisons, which has led to some of them running illegal enterprises within the precincts. Fire broke out at Rubavu prison in the Western Province on July 7, leaving six inmates dead and over 60 injured. According to the report, investigators established that the fire was a result of illegal power installations in small congested self-fabricated cubicles built by inmates. “RCS management do not enter inside the prison facilities. They only guard the entrance to restrict prisoners’ movements. Prisoners have exploited this loophole to construct small individual cubicles, do illegal electric installations, and fabricate stoves and wooden electric equipment. There is need to establish internal control mechanisms,” the report reads in part. However, speaking to The New Times on Monday, RCS Commissioner General, Maj. Gen. Paul Rwarakabije, denied existence of such cubicles, saying that, since 2011, there have been efforts to demolish such cubicles. “There is no way you can guard prisoners from outside. Ever since I joined this institution, I have worked hard to ensure those internal cubicles are demolished. As I speak, they are non-existent,” Rwarakabije said. The report also faulted RCS for using prisoners as prison technicians, saying that those assigned exploit the opportunity to illegally divert power lines to individual cubicles. Rwarakabije, however, refuted the claim, saying that they have prison wardens who are technicians and usually work with the technicians from Rwanda Energy Group (REG) whenever a need arises. Beside the Rubavu prison fire, another wild fire broke out on July 4, at Muhanga Prison, leaving one block completely destroyed. The fire started after a fumigation process with Dichlorvos Lava – a flammable substance. There were, however, no injuries registered. The inquiry discovered that prisoners had secretly installed two fraud bypass low voltage lines which they used whenever the official electrical line was switched off by the prison administrators. Fire broke out when one prison official discovered the bypass line and cut it resulting into a short circuit. Meanwhile, the report concluded that the fire that razed a shop in Giporoso, a famous trading centre along the Airport Road resulted from arson. “It has since been established that the shop belonging to Winny Busingye was burnt by two street kids aged 12 and 13. Several commercial items worth Rwf930,000 were damaged before the fire was put out by the fire brigade,” reads the report. Investigators established that the juveniles were allegedly hired by one Paul Habimana to burn down the shop after the owner of the shop accused him (Habimana) of stealing a sack of rice. The two children were arrested and sent to a juvenile rehabilitation facility. The New Times has also learnt that seven people have since been arrested in connection with the fires. The majority of those arrested are electricians who are accused of causing the infernos due to recklessness. According to the report, the majority of the fires were a result of electrical circuit that originated from poor wiring. As a result, investigators recommended that concerned agencies should put in place technical requirements including standards of electrical installations, electrical materials and fire protection equipment in commercial buildings, factories, public buildings and residential houses. Rura was also put on the spot for minimal oversight over the energy utility. “Rura as a regulatory organ should strengthen its control over EWSA as a power supply organ. This will improve the quality of services EWSA provides,” the report reads in part. Also, in the report, the commissions recommended that all electricians be licensed by a professional body to avoid substandard installations. The national regulator, Rwanda Utility Regulation Authority (Rura), which has a unit charged with electricity regulation, says licensing technicians is an idea that could be adopted. The Director General of Rura, Patrick Nyirishema, said: “Going to school is one thing but practicing is another, that’s why licensing technicians would be an idea to adopt.” On the same issue, the Director General of REG, Robert Nyamvumba, said his institution has since advised all its engineers to register with the Engineers Institute of Rwanda (EIR). “Licensing engineers has little to do with the recent fires. What we are focusing on is implementation of the preventive measures,” he said. Major fires The Nyabugogo fire which also occured in July, started from a mattress shop leaving three shops on the complex burnt to ash, the report says. Another fire happened in the same month in Quartier Mateus burning down seven shops. This was the second fire incident on the same building in a span of two months. The first fire happened on May 9 as a result of a short circuit but it was put off before damage was done.

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Fire outbreaks: Probe report faults institutions