School fires: Let’s all stay vigilant

On Tuesday morning, a girl’s dormitory at Masaka Secondary School caught fire which destroyed property including mattresses, clothes, shoes, books, etc. Fortunately, none of the students was physically injured.

As reported in our story of Wednesday October 11, the headmaster Hajj Musa Musoke Mpungu asked police to stay calm as police investigate the possible cause of the inferno.

News of school fires or accidents of any sort where lives and property could be lost always causes panic especially for parents given the past cases of such where learners lost their lives. 

A number of school fires have been registered this year. In February, fire gutted a boys’ dormitory at Kyamakande Senior Secondary school in Rukungiri, in March there was a fire at Kyamate Senior Secondary School in Ntungamo Municipality leaving one dead.

In June, a dormitory fire broke out at Jane foundation Primary school in Bushenyi. In July, a girls’ dormitory at St Paul Senior Secondary school in Iganga district went up in flames and in August, suspected arsonists attempted to set dormitories at Isango Muslim Primary School in Kasese District on fire. These are just a few incidents of those reported. 

It is obviously a recurring problem that calls for vigilance from all stakeholders. Any form of negligence and slackening in alertness could very easily give way for a fire to occur. 

A 2022 police report revealed that 40 schools caught fire between January 5, 2022 and June 27, 2022 and that 17 were burnt deliberately, four were a result of negligence, four were accidental and the rest were yet to be investigated at the time.

It is therefore key that we remain vigilant.

Last year, in a bid to ramp up security in schools, the government issued stringent guidelines for schools to follow. A few of those that are specifically addressed to fire prevention and management include;

Putting in place fire safety measures like portable fire extinguishers, hose reel, fire hydrants, buckets with dry sand placed in strategic corners. Ensuring that each dormitory has at least two emergency exits.

Spacing between beds should be at least 0.6 meters apart and 0.3 meters off the wall.  All doors and windows should open outwards for ease of opening from within in case of emergency.

Have emergency plans and preparations, sick students should be in sick bays not left in dormitories. There should be regular checks of students’ belongings for dangerous materials like match boxes, inflammables, acids and drugs, teach learners and school staff how to use the firefighting equipment and what to do in case of a fire, among others.

This is the final school term for this year and exam bells are ringing for candidate classes, all stakeholders should remain vigilant. Let’s not let our collective guard down. Regularly check to see that the safety guidelines are being followed so that the safety ball is not dropped.