Editorial: Yaounde fire incidents one too many.

Videos on the social media showed mountains of uncontrollable flames, said to have started by 9 p.m., destroying the factory, located in the Nsam neighbourhood of Yaounde, with no visible signs of activities to quench the inferno.

The cause of the fire and cost of destruction remain unknown, but the intensity of the flames suggests considerable damage to the company owned by billionaire, Fokou Bernard.

The regrettable incident happened less than a week after another fire inferno in the adjacent neighbourhood of Efoulan, where a tanker exploded, burning five houses and business places. 

A similar disaster occurred in Nsam on February 14, 1998, when a tanker truck from the Cameroon Petroleum Depots Company caught fire, causing the death of many people who were trying to recover the spilled fuel.

It is not only in Efoulan or Nsam that Yaounde, which is supposed to be the most protected and secured city in the country, has been notorious for such disasters, which would have been prevented or the impact minimised.

Down memory lane, there have been disastrous infernos at the Quartier General, the National Assembly, Yaounde VI Council, and markets in the capital city. 

The Guardian Post does not need to mention others in towns like Douala, Bamenda, Limbe etc, where fire outbreaks, especially in markets, have been the source of national shame, especially as some of the fires have been suspected of arson.

Take for instance, the case of the Yaounde VI Council, which on September 8, last year, was ravaged by flames. 

On April 14, 2014, another fire consumed the same premises, raising the thesis of a premeditated act of pyromania.

Security deployed on the ground after the fire revealed some disturbing coincidences: the various circuit breakers did not function despite the violence of the flames, the location where the fire allegedly started was not easily identifiable...

Traditionally, the fire incidents are often followed by commissions of enquiries, which in transparent and proactive administration should determine the causes of such fires, attribute blame and more importantly recommend measures to preempt the disasters and prompt response mechanism.

We expect the SOFAVIN fire to follow such a warp trend of investigation. But have such commissions produced the needed results? Do companies and markets have fire extinguishing facilities? Are the affected premises insured? Is there any inspection being carried out to ensure the extinguishers exist and are functional?

Every country has fire-fighting services, which, in case of fire breakout, rushes to the scenes, using drones, helicopters and water tankers to minimise the destruction.

In Cameroon, the National Fire Brigade was created on April 5, 1986. Four years later, the law was reviewed to make it a joint military entity.

In 2004, three firefighters groups were created, following the division of responsibility of the three Joint Military Regions, with three fire companies and eight Emergency Centres, with a total of four hundred personnel.

In 2011, the corps began to expand. New units have been created and activated, increasing the number from eight to 20. 

At the same time, the Human Resources budget has increased fivefold.

According to official sources, "the fleet of response vehicles has been strengthened, with around 200 vectors in all categories. Two other firefighter groups and 12 fire companies were created in 2018, to increase territorial coverage".

Defence forces explained that: "For interventions in case of a fire disaster, the National Fire Brigade currently relies on: five firefighter groups, covering the boundaries of the Joint Military Regions. These Groups are responsible for the administration and deployment of Fire Units, which include Fire Companies and Emergency Centres".

Given the delays often encountered when there is fire outbreaks by the fighters and traffic congestion, which at time makes it difficult for water tankers to arrive on time, The Guardian Post is of the vehement conviction that the fire service is still under-staffed and grossly lagging in ultra-modern firefighting gears to succeed in battling the numerous fires occurring regularly and periodically, not only in Yaounde but throughout the country.

Government needs to equip fire services with firefighting drones and helicopters that can zoom in within minutes of an alert and extinguish fire before serious damages are caused.

There is also the urgent need to carry out stringent scientific and judicial investigations to determine the causes of some of the fire incidents, which may be ignited to cover up fraud so that the culprits can be given excruciating penalties to deter others in their moulds.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3171 of Wednesday July 17, 2024