The Deputy Chief of Fire Force, Kamanda Bongay has said the unwholesome surroundings in the city and other issues have placed Freetown on a time bomb.
Speaking to Awoko yesterday at the international disaster risk reduction day held at the British council he said the city has lots of highly explosive materials.
“Freetown is a place where ammunition and petroleum depots are everywhere, and this is a city that is heavily congested, and a city that has lots of shanty buildings. This is also a city because of electrical problems, lots of people go for petrol generators, candles and using alternative sources of electricity” he said.
Mr Bongay said those alternative sources of energy were potential fire threats to the city coupled with the building structures which were constructed with highly inflammable materials.
He spoke about the petrol tankers that ply the congested streets posing as high risk to traders and residents alike..
“if you look at the modern petrol stations they have bars fixed with the stations and we know what happens at the bar where people relax and smoke lots of cigarettes. Introducing naked light at the station makes way for disaster” he stressed.
Mr Koroma revealed that between 2004-2007, some two billion leones worth of property were lost through fire disaster in the country.
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