A group of boys − arrested by security men at Madinatu for setting fires in internally displaced persons’ camps – might have been responsible for starting the fire at the Almaskin Camp in Maiduguri on Saturday.
Fanne Mohammed, a resident of the camp, told RNI reporter Fatima Mustapha that a small girl had called for her help at about 1pm. As she approached her tent, she heard children shouting and calling for help. She rushed to get there and found her tent in flames.
“It scared me. I quickly ran to help the children. I started to shout and called for others to help. Firefighters arrived and tried to put out the fire,” she said.
Mohammed said all the new clothes and food items meant for the month of Ramadan, which starts on April 13, had gone up in flames or had been destroyed.
“I was left with nothing,” she said.
Mohammed said the fire was not big and only five tents had caught alight and burnt out.
“We had a fire, an inferno, a few months ago which almost destroyed the whole camp. The government and well-meaning organisations and individuals helped us to recover from our losses,” she said.
Mohammed said although she was not sure, it had been suggested that the fire could have been started by a group of boys who had been found to be responsible for setting fires in other internally displaced persons’ camps.
A camp official, who asked to remain anonymous, said residents made fires in their tents so that they could cook and boil water and that was how most fires started. He said tents were made of leather, timber and other flammable materials.
“Most of the internally displaced persons are villagers and making a fire in a room is a common tradition. But it does not work that way in the camps. Some residents still consider themselves villagers and do not want to do away with their traditions. Some make a fire, leave it and go out to fetch water,” he said. “If left alone without someone watching it, a fire can spread and grow easily.”
Goni Modu, a Borno State firefighter, said that many of the camp residents used firewood.
“They don’t have charcoal let alone electricity or a gas cooker. They will make a fire in the tent and forget to put it out after cooking their food. And then the wind blows up and fires start to rage. Because the tents are made of mats, leather, timber and some sticks, making a fire inside the tent can be very dangerous.”
Modu said fires could spread very quickly and easily in the camps because of all the flammable material.
“People don’t realise how fast fires spread and, before they know it, they are dealing with an inferno. That is when death and destruction walk hand in hand.”
