Editorial

Stories of fire outbreaks leading to the destruction of lives and properties have dominated the national news in the past few months. First was the story of an inferno that destroyed several compounds in a community in the Central River Region. A week or so later, news of a similar incident was received from the Upper River Region. And last week alone, Kanifing Municipality and West Coast Region  witnessed two fire outbreaks one of which led to the  death of a Guinean man and his three-year-old son. This tragedy,  which happened last Friday in Dippa Kunda also resulted in the destruction of two apartments. 

On the same day,  a similar fire disaster in Brikama Jamisa where five good bedrooms belonging to the deputy police commissioner of Central River Region were burnt to ashes.

We hereto wish to seize this opportunity to caution all and sundry particularly parents to be aware of the other side of fire and endeavour to always put it under control, particularly at this time that we are in the dry hamattan season with the North East Mansoon wind at its speak. Failure to exercise caution in dealing with fire even for domestic uses could result to fire outbreak with dire consequences. 

No one needs to be reminded that destruction wrought by fire is never small; so parents need to take absolute responsibility particularly for their children. Fire is not a toy to play with nor is it food to be eaten. 

People should draw fundamental lessons from the infernos that have already struck the country and put rigid preventive measures in place. Fire is beneficial for us only after using it for cooking and other activities but after that we must ensure it is put off to avoid any destruction.  We must also keep materials in our houses that are associated with fire  away from the reach of children.

We hope that people would exercise caution and minimise the outbreaks of infernos.