By Dadson A. Musa
A fire incident is reported to have happened on Wednesday, 21st August 2024 at Hardup Lane, close to the Bo West Police Station. Reports say one house was engulfed by fire due to electricity fluctuation by EDSA. For the past 24 hours leading to the fire incidence electricity supply was not stable. And it is all indicative that the on and off of the electricity supply caused the fire. Brima Jengo, a neighbour to the house that was engulfed by fire narrated that “when power was restored after a short break i saw and heard a spark on the meter which was followed by flames of fire which started to spread inside the house.” As a control measure “i took a stick and hit the burning cable which minimized the fire,” he narrated. Even with that attempt the fire engulfed the inside of the house and burned several properties in the house to ashes.
The national Fire Force in Bo responded to the distress call and succeeded in putting out the fire and prevented it from spreading to the other nearby houses. As they were putting out the fire they ran out of water and had to dash to a nearby reservoir to refill which led to another unfortunate incidence in which a live electric cable was run into which caused some sparks. The National Fire Force came in as they got the distress call although much damage had been done then. A fire officer, Michael Kanneh told this medium that “the response was swift because the distance to the place of incidence from their office was short and that the road has just been paved which made access easy for us.” When asked about the constraints under which they working he replied that “water reserve is a problem and for a city like Bo that has expanded rapidly, they need more fire engines.” A bystander laid the blame at the feet of EDSA “for giving electricity at epileptic rate.” That if people were not around, it was going to be very fatal.
