Fire yesterday destroyed properties of unknown value at Mazeras Memorial Girls School in Kwale yesterday after a dormitory was burnt down to ashes. According to local daily reports, the school administration are waiting for police investigations to reveal the cause of the fire. The Kenya Redcross in their twitter update reported that 6 casualties had been evacuated to Coast General Hospital however there were no reports of loss of life.
This incident caused panic among the parents who only remembers very well the memories the school 16 years ago when it was then called the Bombululu Girls. Bombululu fire killed 26 girls and any parent who is conversant with the history knows well how serious that fire was. Recently, incidences of fire have been reported in secondary schools with some school of thouught blaming this on the on-going mock examination while others venting it on behaviour change that is left to the teachers only by the parents.
The ministry of education, through the then minister Prof. Sam Ongeri, introduced the Kenya Fire Safety Manual that was a fire safety standard that targeted establishment such as the schools, especially the boarding schools. In its introduction, Bombululu Girls Secondary School tragedy is mentioned as a reminder of one of the losses occurring due to fire tragedies in Kenya. This manual is and still remain one of the best document in scholarly fire service awareness among the public especially schools, the only question that remain is : did it ever reach the intended recipient? With the fires in schools and reports of non compliance with basic safety standards like grills on dormitory windows and blocked emergency exits, the stakeholders in schools needs to be involved in safety standard implementation in schools and especially the administrators of the schools require a forum where issues of safety are addressed.
The writer is an independent PhD candidate
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