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Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Funkia Fire Incident, DREF Application (MDRSL014)

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Description of the Event

What happened, where and when?

A large fire incident occurred on December 25, 2022 (Christmas Day) in one of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society program communities – England Ville Community, Funkia, Goderich in the Western Rural district. According to the community-based volunteers, the incident began around 12:30 pm with a lady who was preparing her Christmas meal in a makeshift house. Immediate household members were unable to put out the fire and the National Fire Force could not get there on time to extinguish the blaze as the fire truck was involved in a fatal accident on its way to the fire scene.

However, the entire community population came together to put out the fire. Fire could be extinguished but several houses were already completely burnt with most of the Funkia community households displaced. A total of 211 households have lost their home and essential HH items. Displaced persons have no place to stay, and the neighborhood cannot contain the displaced population. The majority of the affected population sleeps in the open, few have moved to nearby public buildings such as markets and schools, and others stay on the unsafe beaches in and around Goderich Village.

Small shops and other places used for income generation such as warehouses and stalls burnt down, fish drying houses constructed and managed mostly by women destroyed, resident women petty traders and hawkers lost their livelihoods to the fire.

On 29 December 2022, the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) through its Directorate of Relief and Response presented an Assessment Report on the Funkia Market Fire Incident to Sierra Leone Red Cross and other key partners during a Coordination meeting to solicit support for the affected population.

Fire incidents have become repetitive in the town. NDMA explained that this is linked to household fire incidents, especially in Slum/Clustered Communities, and poor electrification. The economic situation in most of these communities explains the use of low quality installation and unsafe installations exposing population to this constant risk.