BCC in fire awareness campaigns

Blantyre City Council (BCC) has embarked on a fire outbreak awareness campaign as a way of preventing fire accidents in the city.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Tuesday, BCC spokesperson Anthony Kasunda said the council wanted to be more proactive than reactive to fire incidences.

“As you are all aware, mysterious fires have affected most of the country where lives and property have been lost. We believe that these awareness campaigns will avert them,” said Kasunda.

The spokesperson said there are numerous factors that could lead to fire accidents, including deliberate bushfires, electrical faults, illegal and unethical tapping of electricity, illegal sale of fragile substances such as petrol, diesel and benzene and leaving burning charcoal burners close to other highly flammable containers and chemicals, among others.

He indicated that in view of such rampant fire incidences rocking the country, which could otherwise be avoidable once an individual is equipped with safety precautionary measures, the BCC has designed a series of well programmed awareness campaigns in all the local markets and other establishments within its jurisdiction beginning Monday next week.

However, the publicist could not disclose where the campaigns could initially be conducted and the duration the exercise would take.

Kasunda appealed to well-wishers to donate additional firefighting equipment as those of the council are inadequate.