The latest police annual crime report had indicated that whereas there was a 13.8% increase in fire incidents reported in 2024, majority of them were put out.
According to the Police Fire and Rescue Services Director, AIGP , Steven Tanui, there were 1,280 fire incidents reported in 2024, an increase from the 1,104 reported the previous year in 2023.
“Out of the cases reported, 1,150 were successfully handled, 120 were handled before arrival and 10 were false fictitious fires,” Tanui said.
By successfully putting out 1,150 cases out of the 1,280 reported, it indicates a 90% success rate.
“ 67% of the fires were reported between 0600hrs and 1200hrs and 33% were reported between 0001hrs to 0600hrs.”
Majority of the fires, according to Police, were registered in residential buildings followed by makeshift structures with 300 and 250 registered respectively.
Police said there was a 9% increase in school fires from 50 cases in 2023 to 55 cases in 2024.
Causes
According to the Police Fire and Rescue services director, majority of the fires were caused by electricity-related incidents, ranging from electrical short circuits (270), to electrical appliances left unattended totaling to(111) .
“These were followed by negligence and misuse of wax candles (217) among others,”Tanui said.
Sparks contributed to 150 fires, poor cooking habits 100 fires while electrical welding and gas cutting contributed to 76 fire incidents.
Another worrying figure are the 101 fires termed as arson which were lighted deliberately by individuals with ulterior motives.
He added that majority of fire occurrences were in Kampala Metropolitan Region with 993 cases registered .
Regions
With most fires registered in Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, Makindye, registered the highest number of fire incidents at 162, indicating a 53.6% increase from cases registered the previous year.
Kawempe, Lubaga, Wakiso and Mukono followed in that order to contribute to the 993 cases reported in Kampala.
“We saved Kawacom building in Namanve as it took around 10 minutes and we were there. We also saved American Embassy building, NSSF building in Kampala, Algerian Embassy flat as all people were up and fie engulfed the down floor but within five minutes our teams were able to save them. We also saved Nyumba Kubwa at Arua Park and Cooper Complex,” Tanui said.
“Our team was also able to put out a devastating fire at Kalerwe market and saved life and property, the Kigoogwa town fire after a fuel tanker overturned was also put out.”
The police director urged the public to embrace fire prevention, rather than waiting for fires to breakout and call police to put them out.
He insisted on the old adage of prevention is better than cure.
“We appeal to members of the public to work to enhance the preventive aspect of fire fighting than waiting for fire to occur. Also, the right of way is key. Let us respect rescue vehicles. If you see a fire tender or bowser responding to a fire incident, open up the road so they go and save a life. Any delay is death. People should stop being stubborn on the road. Imagine we are going to save a person who has fallen in a pit latrine, dam or pond and you don’t give us way, that person will die,” Tanui said.