An Investigation of Fire Emergency Preparedness in Kenyan Schools: a Case Study of Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi

Abstract

An emergency is a situation that requires immediate attention, a situation that could lead to disaster if left alone or unattended. Fire is one such emergency. Fires in schools are of public concern due to its increased incidence, injuries, deaths and property loss. Existing literature indicates these incidences are on the rise all over the country and the risk is of schools being vulnerable to this even after the many occurrences is also still very high. This study sought to find this out. The study was guided by the following objectives; the adequacy of Fire Fighting facilities for fire disasters within the school premises; how secondary schools put in place fire safety plans as a measure of fire disaster preparedness and to establish if secondary schools trained teachers, ,workers and student on appropriate responses in case of fire. The study adopted Descriptive Survey method to collect data and employed Stratified Random Sampling to come up with the sample. Quantitative data was collected by means of questionnaire along with data collected through observation schedule. Data collected was analyzed through Descriptive Statistics and the results presented using Frequency Tables. Results of the study show that even though most schools have the Fire Fighting Equipment, due to inaccessibility of these equipment and lack of proper training of teachers, staff and students, most schools are not adequately prepared for Fire Emergencies. Based on the findings of the study it is recommended that school management should consider adding more Fire Fighting Equipment and make them easily accessible in case of an emergency. The study also proposes teaching staff, workers and students be trained in Fire Emergency response.