(English captions by Trisha Paul, University of Michigan.)

Institutional fires have become a major public
health problem in the Eastern Africa region,

either affecting schools, prisons, office
blocks, and buildings.

Fire refers to the uncontrolled burning of
settlements, or forests, or vehicles or

vessels, and it is a very frequent form of
hazard in Eastern Africa.

It may be accidental or deliberate.

It may be natural or technological.

Elements of fire include fuel, heat, and a
supply of oxygen.

If any one of these three is removed, then
the fire will not exist.

Fire causes burns and shock, disabilities
and deaths, damage and loss of property, environmental

degradation and pollution.

It may result in a mass casualty incident.

Factors that influence fire include vegetation
and weather, availability of combustibles and toxicity

of flammables, absence of warning and lack
of knowledge, magnitude of exposure and age

of victim, availability of fire fighting equipment,
and housing characteristics.

Causes of fires include electrical causes.

These may be broken and dirty insulators,
loose flexible wiring, perishable or damaged

insulation of wiring, bad connections including
overloading, incorrect fusing and poor earthing,

current or electricity traveling via a gas
pipe.

Human causes include smoking, cooking and
unattended fire, appliances left on including

cookers or irons, aerosols, careless handling
and playing with fire, arson, and misuse of

appliances.

These are the major classes of fires.

Class A fires result from ordinary combustible
materials such as wood, paper, grass, cotton,

or cloth.

The extinguishing media is usually water,
or dry chemical powder, or sand and fire beating

for these types of fires.

Class B fires result from flammable liquids
such as kerosene, petrol, spirit, cooking

fats.

The most effective extinguishing media is
foam and dry chemical power.

Class C fires involve gases such as methane,
propane, butane.

These gases can produce explosions.

Extinguishing methods involve closing of the
valve or the source of the leakage of the

gas, but you can also use dry chemical powder

Class D fires result from metal heating
such as Aluminum and Magnesium.

The main extinguishing media is dry chemical
powder.

These fires are capable of reaching very high
temperatures.

As we can see, dry chemical powder is a form
that is useful for all classes of fires.

Electrical fires do not constitute a class
on their own but may be either A, B, C, or

D types of fires.

Extinguishing involves cutting off electricity
if possible, and the recommended media is

dry chemical powder or carbon dioxide.

Methods of fire extinguition include smothering,
starvation and cooling.

If you have some fire extinguishers where you 
work, try and look at them and examine them.

What is their content?

What classes of fires are they indicated for?

Kindly check the expiry dates and service
of these gadgets.

If possible, you can have a demonstration
on the actual use of an extinguisher.

Portable fire extinguishers are the 'First
Aid Fire Fighting Appliances', FAFFA, normally

operated by one person.

Water containing extinguishers usually have
a red label.

Foam containing extinguishers usually have
a cream label.

Dry chemical powder extinguishers usually
have a blue label, and carbon dioxide extinguishers

usually have a black label.

Nowadays most extinguishers are red in color
but are only differentiated by a color code.

That is, if extinguishers are red in color, then
a color code is placed on them to indicate

their content.

Look at a fire extinguisher near you and
try to check for some of these.

Safety implications of hand held extinguishers.

Always note the following hazards 
when using extinguishers:

The possibility of electrocution, 
inhalation of dry chemical

powder, frostbite from carbon dioxide, their
failure rates are usually higher, and then

the issue of weight.

Noise, a lot of noise, especially from the
carbon dioxide fire extinguishers.

Dry chemical powder extinguishers may cause
impaired vision when used.

Pre-hospital fire management is an important
adjunct to fire control.

Organize and establish and incident command
structure, extinguish the fire, conduct a

Rapid Needs Assessment, search and rescue
is necessary for evacuation of victims.

Initial triage and first aid to the victims
if necessary, transporting the victims to health

facility. Use available resources and mobilize
for others if needed.

Hospital based operations are also an important
adjunct to fire management.

Establish a receiving mechanism and emergency
management for serious victims of fires.

Fire prevention is an important aspect of
fire control.

What factors do you think increase fire risk
and how do you think fires can be prevented

in institutions in your district?

Fire prevention includes building standards
that incorporate hazard reduction, no smoking

signs, orderly arrangements of goods to
avoid spontaneous ignition, providing space

between goods and avoiding congestion in dormitories.

Others include fire segregated walls and preventive
measures against easy spread of fire.

Fire prevention also involves good house keeping,
an awareness creation to create a sense of

community responsibility.

There is need to strengthen fire rescue
departments, enforce legislations, and set

bylaws to prevent fires.

Fire protection ivolves installation of fire
equipment inside and outside of buildings,

fire escapes, exits and escape signs, protect
buildings from extensive damage resulting

from fires.

Hand appliances include extinguishers and
buckets of sand that are in easy reach.

We also have fixed installations depending
on availability of resources including risers,

hose reels, and external private hydrants.

Fixed installations include foam, gases, and
dry chemical powder.

Advanced systems include automatic sprinkler
systems and fire warning gadgets.

Fire drills should cover fire alarm effectiveness.

Whether a physical alarm is installed or we
depend on a human alarm, this should be tested.

They also cover timeliness of notification,
fire teams conformance with established fire

procedures, safe evacuation and assembly.

Emphasis should be on orderly evacuation rather
than speed.

Evacuation is the removal of people from an
area of danger to a safe area in an orderly

manner to prevent confusion and panic.

It is important to provide an evacuation assembly
point that is for any workers involved in

fire management, and also the place where
affected persons should assemble.

If a staff member or other members from 
the building or students or pupils

are not seen during the roll call, then the
fire team conducts a search and rescue.

All these should be tested in the fire evacuation
procedures.

There is also the rendezvous point for evacuation,
which is the meeting point for the first responders

such as fire fighters, or people designated
to address fires in an institution.

These should be carefully selected.