The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs(MIDIMAR) has called for joint efforts towards fire safety.
Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva, the Director of Research and Public Awareness in MIDIMAR, says that the current level of infrastructural development in Rwanda carries high risks of fires.
according to information posted onto the ministry’s official website, Nsengiyumva demands a strong, proactive fire safety management system as well as reactive capability.
“In fact, the rate of fire-caused disasters is not higher. However, in spite of the low rate, fire incidents extremely cause enormous damages than other incidents,” Nsengiyumva said.
In a recent meeting, stakeholders agreed to collect all the fire safety related documents in order to compile an inclusive fire safety policy and set up a committee to draft preliminary regulation- bill.
The established committee headed by MIDIMAR is comprised of Mugold International Ltd, Rwanda Housing Authority, Rwanda Transport Development Agency, Kigali City, EWASA, and Rwanda National Police fire brigade has been assigned the duty of drafting a referential fire safety regulations-bill which is to be submitted to the stakeholder’s general meeting for approval.
The fire safety regulations draft-bill is scheduled to be discussed on November 30, 2011.
Stakeholders include Rwanda National Police, (RNP), Rwanda Defense Force, (RDF), Rwanda Housing Authority, (RHA), Rwanda Transport Development Agency, (RTDA), Mugold International Ltd, Kigali city, Civil Aviation Authority, Rwanda Bureau of Standards, (RBS), The Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority, (EWASA), Rwanda Development Board, (RDB) and the Private Sector Federation, (PSF), and the MIDIMAR which has the duty of coordination.
According to Nsengiyumva, each institution above had local fire safety regulations that need to be converged and consulted to draw up effective and efficient fire safety regulations for sustainable risk management and planning.
“Therefore, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs took the initiative to coordinate various institutions so as to join their efforts for fire safety” said Nsengiyumva.
He added that the regulations once approved would be adopted as ministerial order to be disseminated to concerned institutions including local administration.
“We expect the fire safety regulations to play a key role in reducing fire risks especially in public spaces, working places, big buildings, transport, environment and elsewhere. We will also propose the locations for firefighting stations so as to ensure fast response once fire incidents occur,” added Nsengiyumva.
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