The county government of Mombasa has embarked on a fire safety inspection exercise covering all learning institutions and premises domiciled in the coastal city.<\/p>\n
The directive was issued by area Governor, Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir, following the recent school fire tragedy at Utumishi Girls Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County.<\/p>\n
The school fire, blamed on an arson attack, killed 16 learners and wounded 79 others. Eight students have since been arrested following the inferno and are set to be arraigned in court next week.<\/p>\n
Among the measures being assessed for compliance is the availability of fire extinguishers in student-occupied areas.<\/p>\n
Dormitories must also have three double doors opening outwards, including one designated and clearly marked as an emergency exit.<\/p>\n
The Nakuru school tragedy comes barely two years after the Hillside Endarasha Academy inferno in Nyeri County that claimed 21 lives.<\/p>\n
The Mombasa exercise will incorporate a series of fire safety sensitisation programmes aimed at equipping learners and educators with knowledge on fire prevention and appropriate response during emergencies.<\/p>\n
Governor Nassir says the exercise covers all public and private learning institutions including primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.<\/p>\n
He said the devolved government remains committed to the safety, welfare and protection of all residents, particularly children within the schools.<\/p>\n
Nassir said the exercise is being undertaken by the County Fire Department in collaboration with relevant county agencies with the objective of assessing fire preparedness, emergency response systems, evacuation procedures, electrical safety standards and the general compliance of public institutions with fire safety requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo fees or inspection charges shall be levied against the institutions during this countywide exercise,\u201d he said, adding that the county must ensure the safety of school children.<\/p>\n
The coastal county boss said the intervention is aimed at safeguarding the lives of learners, teaching staff and non-teaching staff while strengthening disaster preparedness of all the institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstitutional heads are therefore requested to accord the county inspection teams full cooperation during the exercise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The county will also be enforcing the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) guidelines banning the unauthorised and illegal sale of petroleum products to minors to eliminate fire hazards in schools.<\/p>\n
The schools are required to have functional fire extinguishers, audible fire alarms, emergency water systems and emergency exit doors.<\/p>\n
Others are that windows of laboratories, classrooms and staff rooms should not be grilled and doors should open outwardly for the safety of students in case of stampedes during tragedies.<\/p>\n
The post Mombasa launches inspection of schools to assess fire safety levels<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The county government of Mombasa has embarked on a fire safety inspection exercise covering all learning institutions and premises domiciled in the coastal city. The directive was issued by area Governor, Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir, following the recent school fire tragedy at Utumishi Girls Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County. The school fire, blamed on an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}