Rwanda needs a fully-fledged fire department – veteran firefighter

Fire outbreaks have, over the past few years, struck various parts of the country, mainly in Kigali, leaving business persons counting losses. Fire fighting activities are currently coordinated by Rwanda National Police. The New Times’ Felly Kimenyi interviewed Wayne Clark, a British fire fighting veteran, who takes us through the trade, giving an expert analysis of the situation in Rwanda and the way forward. The New Times (TNT): Could you start by briefly telling us who you are and about your career? Wayne Clark (WC): I am a 27 year fire fighting veteran in fire services, I reached a senior rank in the fire brigade in my career, I am now retired, and work for Mugold International Fire Risk Management, which is a Rwandan company. I work as a senior consultant.TNT: How familiar are you with Rwanda as far as this issue of fire is concerned? Give us your personal assessment of the situation of fire safety in most of our public buildings, as an expert in this field?WC: You have a fast developing country with a rapidly developing economy, as a country develops, the economy develops and the business develops, the risk of fire gets greater and greater. So over the course of last five years, the company has been looking at the situation here and I have been involved in the last three years. So, over that time, we got a very broad idea of what is required here. And what is required is basically in different categories. The first category is legislation; the country needs to have a comprehensive system of fire safety legislation. It is in the pipeline but hasn’t yet come for evaluation. So once you have the legislation you need to enforce it. So to save the government demanding small businesses have fire insurance is a great step in the right direction. Having the fire insurance just means the building is covered in terms of law, it doesn’t prevent the fire happening in the first place, so the prevention comes from legislation, with in the legislation, you need something that creates the fire sort of authority. We have the embryo fire service here. It is small and not well funded, operating under the National Police.So that’s how it began, the legislation that creates and enforces the standards and also creates the fire authority. The next thing that needs to be done is the risk assessment of the different public buildings and businesses and to determine the risk they have in relation to fire. You then have to determine how to handle the risk by installation of extinguishers, fire alarm systems and the infrastructure that support fire fighting. And finally, you need to train people. It is not good to have a fire fighting equipment in a building yet the people there don’t know how to use it and they don’t know what to do when the fire alarm goes off, they don’t know how to evacuate the building and make sure everyone is out of the building. So those are the basically four stages. TNT: As you have said, the legislation is in process, we are talking about the infrastructure, the public buildings that you have seen, do you think most of these buildings are ready to withstand any possible fires? WC: In my professional opinion, No.And it is not no from lack of will, its lack of awareness. So, even managers of the buildings might not have been aware of the risks, how quickly the fire can develop and the damage it can cause. Not just to the building, a serious fire in Kigali now could cause considerable damage. So the risk of fire is not just in terms of loosing life, it is about not achieving the great development agenda. TNT: So what do you think--apart from the legislation that is being developed--is needed to help the people and the buildings even those that already exist to withstand any possible fire outbreaks?WC: I will answer the question in two ways, at Mugold International, we have a company motto that says “the greatest weapon you have against fire is awareness”, so this very crucial--awareness. Your readers will read it and they will become aware of the risk of fire. But if we want to really make businesses and public buildings safe, its about commitment from those people in charge of those buildings, to realise this issue, and most of them do, where can we find expertise to tell us how we can go about making our buildings safe. Here we are not talking about installing fire extinguishers or fire alarms, that’s the end product. The start is in making people aware, if you make people aware, the fire is in less risk in the first place. And it is always better to prevent the fire from happening than putting it out. So, business managers, public buildings and institutions should endeavor to prioritize trainings. TNT: Recently, Kigali City authorities ordered building owners to have their buildings insured against fire, giving them an ultimatum of three months, professionally, do you think this will happen without the legislation to enforce this?WC: No, you can’t enforce something without legislation because legally how do you do it? The legislation is the law and if you have no law, you cannot be forced to abide by it. I don’t want to undermine that step forward of insisting the buildings to have insurance. It is a great step forward, but insurance is for paying the damage after the fire has occurred. The biggest step forward and brighter step forward is to make sure that the damage doesn’t occur in the first place. Because when the fire has occurred, it damages the place or building, perhaps this will affect the future development of Rwanda but more importantly, someone could have been injured or killed. If you can prevent the fire, no one gets hurt or killed, you don’t put to risk the economic achievements and you don’t and development for that matter. There is a much bigger step to take and that’s what is needed now. TNT: You have seen the kind if equipment our fire fighters have. Someone recently suggested that for quick and more timely intervention, we need smaller fire fighting trucks to be able to easily navigate through traffic. What is your take on that? WC: I have seen the equipment here, I haven’t had the chance to see the new vehicles that they have, but I understand they have two new fire rangers. Any provision for fire fighting is a good step forward, it is very easy to sit down and see how it will be better to see how these fire engines work. In my experience, you need a broad range of vehicles to achieve a proper cover of a city with thesize of Kigali. So the tools that they have now are a great step forward. But it’s about whether there is the will and the finance to make that grow. That’s a question for your government. But having the tools is a great step forward, I would agree in broad range with the people who suggested smaller vehicles for a timely intervention. But it is a question of whether you can have the money and fire service personnel trained to operate them.Many people believe that fire fighting is about fending off the fires and get back to their other respective assignments. They don’t quite realize technically what fire fighting is. For fire fighters to do their job properly, in Britain for example, they need to have at least high school education; many of them would have university education. It is not a simple job. So in order to get the best benefits from the equipment bought, the people have to be technically knowledgeable and have the education to understand the technology of fire fighting. Fire fighting is a complex subject. Rwanda is taking the right direction but more needs to be done.TNT: What expertise do you bring to Rwanda?WC: In my career in London, I rose through a range of the ranks within fire fighting which everyone who joins fire services must acquire to become a group commander in London, my position until my retirement. My job as a group commander was to determine the fire cover for London all every time the shift changes. And the shift change twice a day. So we are talking about two hundred fire personnel. And a hundred and forty fire stations with 50 personnel on duty and it was my job to arrange that twice a day. So my expertise is how to have a strategic fire cover to a city the size of Kigali, in fact the size of Rwanda because the number of fire plants that would cover the whole of London in an ideal situation would be the same to cover Rwanda. So I bring that experience. Throughout my time in fire service, I have dealt with domestic fires and domestic fire fighters; I have also dealt with some of the major terror threats that have happened in London and some of the major fires that have occurred in London in the recent years. Don’t think for a minute that a developed city doesn’t have fires, it does, and it is the way it reacts to those fires that shows truly how a city or country is developed. TNT: What message do you give to our leaders and people out there as someone who has been in this business for the past three decades?WC: The main message is there is no room for laxity in this kind of business. Fire is like a wild animal. It stalks you in the bush and it will jump on you when you least expect it. Fire will happen at the time you probably don’t have the proper means to fight it. So it is not to be passive, ask questions to your local officials, ask questions to your bosses and you’re government where and how the issue of fire safety is going to be addressed. Thank you

Insight

Rwanda needs a fully-fledged fire department – veteran firefighter