BLANTYRE CITY COUNCIL TO CONDUCT FIRE OUTBREAK AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS

In the wake of a series of mysterious infernos engulfing local markets and other public buildings countrywide, the Blantyre City Council (BCC) has engaged an extra gear in the fire outbreak awareness campaigns.

Malawi News Agency (Mana) established this on Tuesday in an interview with BCC Publicist, Anthony Kasunda.

Asked why the council has thought of venturing into such a long awaited campaign, Kasunda said it was high time, the local authority became more proactive than reactive to fire incidences by among others sensitizing its residents.

“As you are all aware, mysterious infernos have negatively affected almost all the country’s three geographical regions; claiming lives and bringing valuable property worth millions of Malawi Kwacha to ashes.

“The recent fire incidences in the country therefore must serve as a wakeup call for our council and indeed the rest of the local authorities to start acting proactively rather than reactively to such scenarios,” Kasunda hinted.

The BCC Public Relations Manager further pinpointed that just like any other local authority, Blantyre City Council could not afford to stay idle in the face of the ongoing infernos engulfing both lives and valuable property countrywide.

Asked to shed more light on what could be some possible and potential causative agents of such infernos, Kasunda said; “There are numerous factors that could lead to such scenarios including deliberate and reckless bush fires, electrical faults, illegal and unethical tapping of electricity supply from one building to the other, illegal sale of fragile substances within unprotected premises and households such as petrol, diesel and benzene, leaving burning charcoal burners close to other highly flammable containers and chemicals just to mention, but a few.”

He indicated that in view of such rampant fire incidences rocking the country, which could otherwise be avoidable once an individual is equipped with safety precautionary measures, the BCC has designed a series of well programmed awareness campaigns in all the local markets and other establishments within its jurisdiction beginning Monday next week.

However, the publicist could not disclose where the campaigns could initially be conducted and for how long the exercise will last.

Kasunda went on by hinting that in most cases in the event of such fateful scenarios, not even a single attempt is made to put out the wild flames, but rather the desperate onlookers or residents helplessly watch the willowing of wild flames for fear of being consumed therein.

According to Kasunda, besides the forthcoming sensitization campaigns, there was need for well wishers to donate to the council additional firefighting equipment noting the council’s fleet of fire fighting brigade is just too inadequate to serve the entire country’s commercial city.

Among other factors to be addressed during the campaign is to change the mindset of those ill-intentioned and self-centered citizens who might deliberately be setting the fires either for political reasons or to seize the opportunity to steal other people’s property.mana