The Chief Fire Officer of the National Fire Force Nasiru Kamanda Bongay has disclosed to Awoko that the fire incident at the youth commission office was likely caused by wilful intent, and not by any other means. He went further to say that they have already sent their investigation report to the Minister of Youth and he will in turn send it to the Criminal Investigation Department for necessary actions.
The Chief Fire Officer said that the entire left wing of the Commission, which has the office of the Auditor, financial person, Deputy Director was burnt to ashes and nothing was recovered. In the cause of their investigation they also found out that a huge amount of money was also burnt. In their investigation they used all their best practice, by studying all the debris (leftover from the fire incident) properly giving the chemical and physical analysis to ascertain the cause of the fire, for eg if the fire was caused by fuel it must be found in the debris. “Fire investigation is not a presupposition” he lamented. The investigator firstly looks at what is left on the ground after the incident.
Mr. Bongay said that they have six fire fighting vehicles nationwide for Freetown, Kenema, Bo and Makeni. Meanwhile new fire engines will be arriving in February and some of them will be sent to the provinces, for Freetown there is only one operational fire fighter machine.
Kamanda Bongay also said that the response that he has been getting from the line Ministry is very positive and over the last five years they were able to launch two fire engines and he had to travel to do a pre shipment inspection of five fire engines. He ended by saying that in as much as the government is trying to develop; the people of this country must be fire conscious in order for their life and properties not to be destroyed by the ravages of fire.
By Nancy Koroma