Feb 25, 2021(Nyamilepedia) — Traders in Juba’s Jebel market are pointing accusing fingers to the Fire Brigade Service citing their slow response to fire emergency situations.
Speaking in relation to the recent Jebel Market fire that razed property worth thousands of dollars, Isma Raba, a trader in the market expressed his disappointment in the slow response by the Fire Brigade Service.
“I would like to thank our Ethiopian brothers because they did a good thing. They brought almost 30 tanks of water to control the fire. The Fire Brigade Service has done little to help, they would have been the first people to come to the scene but they took their time to reach here,” said Raba.
The trader who lost his goods in the fire did not mince his words as he called the government to compensate them. “Right now the government knows that our shops caught fire, so the government should see our situation here,” said the disappointed Raba.
Stephen Wani, the acting Chief Executive Officer, addressed the possibility of compensation although he was hesitant observing that the structures were not permanent thus not insured.
“The structure of the shops is not permanent which means they did not insure it. The issue of compensation is not going to be easy unless traders themselves contribute something to help their fellow traders who incurred losses.”
Michael Kuarjuok who is the Head of Fire Brigade however noted that they were informed of the Jebel Market fire late thus explaining their late response.
According to Kuarjuok, the Fire Fighters initially arrived at the scene at 6 AM in the morning with only one car and only called reinforcement at 8 AM after they realized they were overwhelmed.
“We arrived at the scene at 6:10AM and started our work with one car, so when it reached 8:00 AM and the fire was still consuming the shops, we brought the second car,” Kuarjok.
The fireman urged every South Sudanese to call immediately there is a fire in order to facilitate quick and rapid response.
He also reminded the public that the fire emergency number was operational 24 hours.
Stephen Wani, the acting Chief Executive Officer for the Juba City Council confirmed that the Monday Fire ravaged 10 shops with assorted goods.
Wani also said that no arrests have been made yet in relation to the fire.
