Popondetta firms urged to observe fire safety

The National National

THE Popondetta Fire Station has urged business houses occupying building spaces in Popondetta to comply with safety rules.
This is part of the fire station’s non-response activity to create awareness under building inspections and fire safety programmes. Building tenants are required to have an emergency response in place and staff are made aware of using the facilities displayed along the exits.
Senior fire fighter Philippa Haunembo said: “This is an ongoing exercise we conduct in urban areas where business houses renting properties are to comply with fire safety regulations.
“Fire happens rarely in Oro, but we carry out these awareness programmes so people are aware of the safety processes and can avoid having casualties from fires or other related issues in future.
“Whilst our main core function is firefighting, we have non-response activities and under this, we conduct building in-use inspections to ensure buildings pass certain requirements before occupancy.
“Fire safety requirements include having smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and exits for emergency evacuations in the event of a fire or other disasters that may occur,” he said.
The Popondetta Fire Service is the authority responsible for three main functions under the non-response activity. These include:

  • Building in use inspection which is conducted to ensure buildings pass requirements;
  • Local action plan which involves mapping out the areas while conducting inspections to record and identify exit points; and,
  • Fire safety awareness which is conducted in public areas, school and through the media.

Haunembo explained that buildings which meet the compliance requirement will pay a fee of K500 before being issued a certificate of compliance and buildings that do not comply will pay a K1000 with the additional costs as a penalty.
“Businesses must comply with fire safety requirements, connect with us to ensure their staff are trained to handle important fire safety equipment and how to conduct first aid.
“During inspections, we recommend businesses for fire safety trainings and this gives us a record of how many staff work in a building. This is because there must always be a fallback plan.
“We have a scheduled work plan for 2024 which covers both the urban and rural areas and this is a yearly schedule which is covered by our budget.
“We are conducting awareness in the urban areas only as we have not received any funding to conduct the rural runs,” she said.