Measures being stepped up to counter fires and cut risks |05 September 2013

Measures to fight fires and reduce their risks are being reinforced as some 35 fires were recorded during the month of August alone and the worse being the Mahé landfill fire.

This came out during a meeting the Minister for Environment and Energy Rolph Payet had with all agencies, ministries and departments concerned and involved in the fight against the recent spate of fires in the country.

During the meeting they reviewed the work being done, measures in place to fight the fires, assessed weakness and challenges, and explored ways to step up measures aimed at reducing the risks of fires.

“It is always important to constantly review the measures in place and coordination with the different agencies to counter better the different types of fires,” said Minister Payet.

With the persisting dry weather season a total of 35 different fires with the worse one being the Mahé landfill fire were recorded in the month of August alone.

Among the measures being stepped up are daily monitoring of landfills both on Mahé and Praslin following the fires there which burned over several days before being put out completely, and more public education campaign being organised by the Fire and Rescue Services Agency through the media.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy and its partners are also conducting daily patrols throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Minister Payet is calling on parents to be more responsible and ensure children do not get access to and play with items such as lighters and matches which can easily lead to a fire.

He further added that the fire brigade has also recorded a number of prank calls by children who are using house phones to report what turned out to be non-existing fires.

He said the police have liaised with the telecom services to trace and block access to these phones and inform the parents of what has been happening as it is an offence under the law to make prank calls.

“It is important therefore that parents are more vigilant and remain alert to what their children are up to especially now when they are on holiday with nothing much to do at home,” said Minister Payet.

Minister Payet noted that fires cost a lot – for families who lose property to fires, the authorities who deal with fires and not forgetting the pressure put on the resources and manpower to deal with fires and therefore we should as much as possible avoid adding to the pressure through prank calls.

Among the weaknesses highlighted is a lack of adequate equipment to deal with the fires.

“We are working on a project to reinforce our stock of various types of equipment for Mahé, Praslin and La Digue,” said Minister Payet.

The need to have a team of reserved firefighters who could be on call when an emergency arises was also discussed.

Coordination among the different agencies still remains a challenge and Minister Payet pointed out that training and more exercises are being planned.

He welcomed and commended the help received from the public and volunteer who have been very helpful.

Weaknesses in the law and regulations in place also need to be reviewed and Minister Payet said steps are being taken to amend the law to ensure people really understand under what condition they light a fire.

He noted that fire bans which are reinforced during the dry period are necessary to protect property, infrastructure, the environment, people’s lives and minimise the risks of disasters caused by fires. Therefore, people need to respect the fire bans at all costs.

“The law will be amended to increase and reinforce measures i