September 23, 2021
By Hafsatu Z Bangura
On the 21st September, 2021 a wild fire broke out at the Kroo bay community leaving several houses burned and leaving members of the community homeless. The fire started at around 4pm and later again at 5am the fire reignited in the morning.
Speaking to A-Z, Mr. Gibrilla Serry Ward Committee Chairman narrated how the fire started but was unable to determine the cause of the fire of which the source is still unknown, he however noted that the fire incident is under investigation by the National Fire Force (NFF). He recounted that the fire incident started at exactly 4pm in one of the neighboring houses and later escalated again at 5am in the morning, whiles noting that due to the clustering of houses it was easy for the fire to spread to the remaining houses thereby rendering casualties with injuries of fire burns to some residents but thank God that no fatality was reported.
He said the youths of the community played a vital role in the fire incident in order to curb the further spread of the fire before the arrival of the fire force.
He further informed A-Z of the number of houses that were burnt according to NDMA, he said according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Data base report; it stated that a total of thirty seven (37) houses were burnt.
He said the said report also outlined the affected victims of about four hundred and eighty eight (488) people, and according to community data 210 children`s school materials were burnt.
According to the community data 163 children are going to school, 42 are boys and 92 are girls which are affected by the disaster.
The children are left in a precarious state as there is no food, no shelter neither any clothes to put on except for the one they are putting on before the disaster happened.
According to Mr. Gibrilla Seray, he said no NGOs or civil society organizations had visited even as the NDMA has strictly urged members of the public, civil society groups, to make direct donations to the NDMA.
The NDMA is the newly established institution that is responsible for disaster management and it must be ready to allocate donations accordingly to the affected victims without fight or chaos.
A mother of two who incurred a sprain injury, explained how the fire started, she said she was sleeping at the time and heard noises of people calling out her name and shouting Fire! Fire! Fire!
She suddenly woke up and took on her heels with her two kids.
She explained that whilst trying to safe guard her children from the fire she incurred an injury.
She said she is much concerned about her kids and a place for her kids to sleep because she was, unable to take anything because the fire was gruesome and now she is homeless and injured at the same time.
She appealed to the government to help them as they are citizens of the state and in dire need of help.
According to members of the community they want the government to help them rebuild their homes as the cost of rent is expensive so they prefer staying in the community than relocate elsewhere.
A bakery also was burnt, as it was the community bakery that served members of the community given that some parents were bread sellers.
There were no loss of lives, but properties were damaged, money meant for business was burnt as people were unfortunate to gather anything apart from the clothes they were putting on.
A pregnant woman by the name of Marie White Kamara whose house was also burnt lamented on the incident and urged the government and its partners to support them in these difficult times.