Fire Menace Threatens Cities

As firefighters stood by helplessly, a major section of a commercial sector of Jalalabad last week burned to the ground.

The July 21 blaze, which swept through 4,000 square metres of shops and homes and caused an estimated 1.5 million US dollars in damage, was one of several major fires recently that have highlighted the very serious problem of under-resourced fire departments in the eastern provincial capital and Kabul.

In major cities, the latter lack equipment, well-trained staff and, in some cases, access to water - in the rest of the country, there’s no fire protection whatsoever.

In Jalalabad, the firefighting was done mostly by the shop-owners themselves. They passed water in buckets, collapsed walls on top of flames and drained gas and oil storage tanks to keep the blaze from spreading. Miraculously, only two people were injured.

“If the people had not helped, if the gas tanks had caught fire, the whole city could have burned down,” said Haji Ajab Shah, regional fire chief for Nengarhar.

The fire was caused by sparks from a wood-cutting machine, quickly spreading through dozens of wood, car repair and gas shops and stores The four-hour blaze also destroyed 25 houses.

The damage was devastating to residents of Nengarhar as well as those from neighboring provinces who operate businesses in Jalalabad. They picked through the ashes as smoke smouldered for three days.

Hafizullah Khiwawal, whose carpentry business burned to the ground, incurred 40,000 dollars worth of damage. He criticises the authorities for not doing enough to combat fires, “Why would investors be motivated to invest in Afghanistan when such an irresponsible government is ruling?” Like other businessmen, most of his goods were bought on loan – and he has no idea how he can pay it back. Fire insurance – like life, health and auto insurance - is non-existent in Afghanistan.

The city of two million people has only four fire trucks that are more than 30 years old – only one of which is working, and it’s assigned to the airport, said Fazil Hadi, manager of the regional fire department that includes Jalalabad. With no equipment, the staff of 28 people has little to do.

The fire department workers “are a burden on the government, because they doing nothing yet get their salaries just by signing the attendance roster every day”, said Malik Badam, a resident of the fire-ravaged neighborhood.

In Kabul, the situation is just as dire - there are only18 fire trucks, of which 12 are old and six unusable. Another six that are working were donated by the United Arab Emirates. Only three of the capital’s five stations are even semi-active; they can only handle small fires.

The cities also suffer from insufficient water; much of Kabul gets its supply from wells, which sometimes run low.

The departments have no chemicals or foam to fight fires started by oil or other substances that can’t be extinguished with water. And trucks have difficulty getting around the sprawling city – traffic congested is a headache and drivers sometimes don’t know that they should move aside for the engines.

Like many other problems in Afghanistan, the shortage of fire safety infrastructure was caused by more than two decades of civil war, which damaged equipment and capacity.

Lt-Gen Mohammad Hakim Zarmati, who is the general director of the country’s fire department, said Afghanistan used to have fire departments in every province as well as in border areas, such as Herat, Mazar and Kunduz. “Now none of them are working,” he told IWPR. “All were demolished during factional fighting.”

He said in Kabul it takes an average of 20 minutes for firefighters to get to a blaze.

A month ago, a fire in Kabul did 6 million dollars worth of damage at the Aftab trading company, having set alight cooking oil and petroleum products. The local station’s attempts to extinguish it with water only spread the blaze and international peacekeeping force, ISAF, had to be called in to help.

Similarly, a fire in Jalalabad at the Ali Baba Company, which trades in fuel and cooking oil, shampoos and detergents, raged for eight days and caused a loss of 15 million dollars.

It is said to have been caused by a power short. Electrical wiring and lines, like the rest of the country’s infrastructure, are old and damaged. And the shortage of access to electricity prompts people to hook up illegal lines, which increase the chance of short-circuits.

Lack of training and experience is another handicap for the fire departments. Out of a staff of 360 people in Kabul, only 61 are professionals, said Khalil Ahmad, director of the capital’s central station. He added that some were educated many years ago in Russia and others have learned through experience and three-month long courses organised by German officials.

“Fire is our biggest enemy, which can only be stopped if useful equipment is in hand,” said Ahmad. “We have contacted several organisations, but no one has heard our voice.”

Most fires start in homes or businesses when people are lighting stoves fueled by gas. The gas, which often flows unevenly, may cause a flare-up, igniting oil and wood nearby.

Khair Rahman, a deputy fire chief in Kabul, said the city is trying to educate people about this hazard - and the need to give way to fire trucks - through public service announcements on radio and television and in newspapers.

Ezatullah Zawab is an independent journalist in Jalalabad. Wahidullah Amini and Hafizullah Gardesh are independent journalists in Kabul.