I chose not to write last week about church fires lest I spoil the wealthy coverage of the special issue Watani printed on the matter. The coverage was planned and supervised by senior editor Hanan Fikry, and researched and written by a Watani team of reporters. The issue was triggered by a fire that had erupted on the morning of 14 August during Holy Mass in Abu-Seifein church in the overcrowded Giza district of Imbaba; 41 lost their lives and 14 were hospitalised. Investigations by the public prosecution revealed there was no criminal intent behind the fire which was caused by electric malfunction. This incident was followed by a number of smaller fires in churches in Egypt, some minor and others more serious, but thankfully leaving no casualties.
Watani’s 21 August 2022 issue presented work by a diligent team of reporters, shedding light on every aspect of the recent fire incidents. This included the details of the Imbaba fire, stating the facts and analysing them, putting in first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses and of those who helped save the victims, reporting on the epic national support on the official level as well as local and international response, to say nothing of the Egyptian presidency’s support which had a great impact in assuaging the harshness of the accidents and loss.
I am not planning on again delving into details already printed, nor do I aim at scraping wounds. Yet I would like to stress the lesson learnt from this painful incident, which I see as a “wakeup call” we direly need, to reassess our state of affairs, realise our flaws, and address and rectify them, in order to move forward from a state of crisis to one of safety.
As far as the damaged churches are concerned—which might apply to mosques too—I feel gratified at the government’s initiative to repair and restore the destruction done by fire, restoring the buildings to their original structures while ensuring that all technical and safety specifications are addressed, thereby rectifying the flaws responsible for the fires in the first place. But again I say: this should be a wakeup call for us to inspect all public and private buildings and facilities to ensure they comply with structural soundness and safety requirements. In this I do not mean electrical and fire systems alone, seeing that they played the main role in most of the recent church fires; I also mean all building facilities including sanitary and electromechanical works, air conditioning, communication networks, fire alarm and fire suppression systems. These represent an integral part of the criteria and civil protection requirements that need to be fulfilled for a building to be licensed. Yet there is a huge space between fulfilling building licence conditions and the periodic follow up on the technical and safety conditions of that building or any additions made to it.
In case of the recent church fires for instance, we can directly notice the inadequacy of the electric network to handle the electric load placed on it. Obviously the networks, switchboards, and the main and sub circuits were designed to cover lighting and light electric loads, not overloads of air conditioning or heating. As to civil protection requirements regarding fire alarm and suppression systems, they are mere ink on paper in documents presented to obtain licences; there is no actual follow up or inspection of the validity and viability of these systems in dealing with loads added to the electrical networks of buildings and facilities.
The reality on the ground is that specifications of electromechanical networks, fire sensor and fire suppression systems suffer from severe deficiency, and are unable to meet realistic safety conditions. This makes them inadequate to meet any danger before the official civil protection squads arrive to the scene.
Accordingly, there is a pivotal responsibility to rehabilitate all our buildings—be they churches, mosques, public or commercial facilities—to meet technical civil protection requirements, and safety measures. After fulfilling all technical specifications, personnel should be given expert training on how to deal with hazards such as fire, this includes overseeing safe eviction of all those present at the scene, and using the fire extinguishing devices available until the fire fighters arrive.
Such measures would ensure the safety and security of our buildings. But this requires alert inspection and follow up on behalf of official apparatuses which appear to think that their role ends with reviewing licensing documents and granting the building licence.
Watani International
25 August 2022