MONROVIA — No one was injured in a fire that engulfed House Speaker Fonati Koffa’s home late Sunday night, but the blaze rendered the house a complete loss.
By Jahiem T. Tumu & Henry Karmo
Eyewitnesses said Speaker Koffa and his wife left the house after the fire intensified to seek refuge at the home of Ex-president George Weah. They appeared to have watched from social media as their house got destroyed.
Officials of the Liberia National Fire Service arrived at what appears to be a two-storey building in the Rehab community shortly after receiving a call around Sunday evening. They found heavy flames at the rear of the house.
Onlookers attacked the blaze with multiple tools, but their salvage efforts were unsuccessful.
Investigators were still on the scene Sunday night. The fire appears to have started at the rear, but it has yet to be determined whether the source was inside or outside.
There was no exact figure on damage, but there was extensive water and smoke damage, according to eye witnesses. According to G. Warsuwah Barvoul, Sr., director of the National Fire Service, there are three fire trucks functioning right now.
He said the National Fire Service will provide details regarding the cause of the fire incident soon.
Liberia’s fire menace
The rate of fire outbreaks in Liberia in recent times has been quite alarming, and the socio-economic effect of these sort of tragedies has be disastrous and devastating.
Many victims never fully recover from the losses incurred from a fire outbreak at some point in their lives. The damage to one’s health – as some get permanently disabled due to the unfortunate event, death of victims, loss of human and material resources, destruction of structures and properties, to mention but a few, is colossal.
This year, Liberia has witnessed more than a handful of these unfortunate and devastating events.
Between January to April 2024, there have been over 10 recorded fire outbreaks across Monsterrado County, according to officials of the National Fire Service.
These incidents do not only claim lives; they take away breadwinners, parents, business entrepreneurs, and sometimes children, officials say.
People watch valuables and treasured items that they toiled and sweated for, reduced to ashes. The psychological, emotional, and financial impacts of this alone are not something anyone would wish on themselves.
On February 8, 2024, Montserrado County Senator Saah Joseph narrowly escaped death early when his home in Congo Town was gutted by fire.
He and other occupants of the house were left stranded as the fire engulfed the building. It took the intervention of his ‘good’ neighbors to break in and save their lives.
On December 26, 2023, a tanker laden with 9,000 litres of petrol collapsed on in Totota, lower Bong County , igniting an outbreak. Unfortunately, some residents, discarding reason and similar tragic incidences, went to scoop fuel. More than 70 persons were reportedly incinerated while scooping petrol from the fallen tanker.
Amid the rise in fire incidents across the country, Liberians are calling on government to invest in professional firefighting services, including trained firefighters, fire stations and firefighting equipment.
They say the government must ensure that these services are well-equipped and strategically located to respond quickly to fire emergencies. Thorough investigations should be conducted to determine the cause of each fire outbreak and identify any potential negligence or violations of fire safety regulations.
