FIRE FORCE CRIES OVER LACK OF MANPOWER & BROKEN SYSTEM
According to the Chief Fire Force Officer, the 374 staff is “very small” and they have made their presentation to the Finance Ministry in the 2022 Financial Budget Hearings
The Chief Fire Force Officer of the National Fire Force, Nassir Kamanda Bongay, has told Members of Parliament (MPs) that the entire National Fire Force has only three hundred and seventy-four (374) “staff nation-wide to respond to fire disasters”. According to the Chief Fire Force Officer, the 374 staff is “very small” and they have made their presentation to the Finance Ministry in the 2022 Financial Budget Hearings to be recruiting 200 staff every year. He made this disclosure in an exclusive interview with the medium on Wednesday 2nd March 2022.
Explaining their challenges to Members of Parliament, the Chief Fire Officer said the last recruitment was done two years ago. He informed MPs that the recruitment process started before the 2018 general election, adding that before the 2018 election, they realized that their manpower was not enough to police before the 2018 general, considering the number of reported fire breaks across the country.
“In 2018, we realized that our staff strengths were not enough to respond to fire disasters in the country. We must be mindful that during the 2018 election, police will be there doing security and everything. But we are supposed to make sure that the country remains relatively fire-free,” he said.
He added that it was in 2020 when the Chairman of the Internal Affairs Committee in Parliament, Hon. Alusine Kanneh and other stakeholders approached the President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio, and the President gave an instruction to immediately approve the 100 firefighters, stating that it was during that period the 100 staff were eventually absorbed.
He informed MPs that they are no longer called Fire Force but a National Fire Force. Bongay said they are still building stations across the country. He disclosed that the Fire Force Building Station in Kailahun only has 10 staff working for 24 hours for instance.
He further disclosed that Kenema has 17 personnel. He said most of the Fire Stations in the provinces are broken down, noting that staff capacity has collapsed and instead of three shifts, they are now collapsed into two shifts.
Highlighting the number of fire engines they have, Bongay intimated that they have 11 fire engines in Freetown, 3 in Kenema, 2 in Bo, Kono 1, Kailahun 1, and 1 in Lungi. He revealed that they have just signed a contract to build three fire Stations in Tonkolili, Bonthe, and in Port Loko.
BY MOHAMED AMARA GANDO
