Mzuni students brands Mzuzu city firefighters “stupid”

Dec 19, 2015 Top News 63
Advertisement
Mzuni

..as over 40, 000 books get damaged

Some angry students studying at Mzuzu University have branded Mzuzu city firefighters as stupid after they failed to extinguish the fire that destroyed the university’s library in the wee hours of Friday.

Speaking to Malawi24 on Friday afternoon, the students said the library couldn’t have been destroyed if the firefighters were active and trained.

Mzuni
Books damaged at Mzuni.

“Our authorities tried to call them almost 20 times but they couldn’t pick up their phone. It took us some minutes to realise that those people were sleeping then we sent some guys to wake them up and rescue our library,” said Wisdom Mkandawire.

Another student told our reporter that the firefighters came but they had little water in their vehicle hence they couldn’t manage to put out the fire.

Upon realising that their efforts were now useless, the students began stoning the firefighters while calling them “stupid illiterates” who just receives government money for doing nothing.

“We called them stupid illiterates who are just wasting government resources for nothing. It is just fortunate that their vehicle was not damaged because we pelted stones at them. At that time we gave up and just saw our library being razed down to ashes,” he said.

History has it that the department of firefighting in Mzuzu city has never managed to extinguish any fire. People have been blaming the department for always failing on their duty.

However, one officer from the department told our reporter that this has been so because they lack resources.

He said it is awkward that the whole city only has one operational vehicle which they depend on and the vehicle is not in good condition. “Another thing is that we are never sent on regular trainings.

You know our work is like that of our colleagues at army, if we don’t practice, we will never win the war against fire. So that is an administrative issue and not personal, we just wonder why people hate us,” said the officer who opted for anonymity.

The fire which is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault has consumed goods worth millions of kwacha including about 45,000 books and several computers.

Advertisement

63 Comments

  2. I know,if Obama can be kidnapped the Americans can sell there country to rescue him,but if bingu can be kidnapped,Malawian can be over exciting….. hit like if what I say is the truth?

  4. WE DON’T HAVE TO LIVE EVERYTHING TO CITY FIRE FIGHTER. EVERY BIG INSTITUTION LIKE UNIVERSITY,RESERVE BANK SHOULD OWN ITS OWN FIRE MACHINE TO AVOID LOSS OF MILLIONS. IMAGINE FIRE BURST AT RBM IN BT AND THERE IS NO NETWORK, WHO WILL YOU BLAME?

  5. can that be the heading of that story? mainly the article exposing problems facing MCC in fighting fierce fire. equipment,.lck of expertise & watever. how many times hav u been called stupit when u r walking in the streets??? mxiew

  6. You mean the whole university u dont have any fire fighting equipment that could be used to atleast smoother the situation while waiting for Mzuzu city council fire fighters?

  7. abale ndi alongo kondi motou ndi wasatana kapena wachilengedwe kapena ndife ene ndi amene timaononga zathu zomwe ngati ndi amene tichitepo kathu amangidwe .komaso ngati ndi escom abwezelese zithu zonse zonongeka .

  8. Ana apa Mzuni ndiofoira z.moto wayamba bac iwo nkungogwira mchuno nkumat ‘w r waiting 4 da firefighters?ndikutsegulirani nursery wudzaphunzire ndeu yainu ndimoto

  14. They say we learn thru mistakes but mzuzu fire fighting department does not learn, how many times hav we heard of fire gutting markets in mzuzu and now its the university library, but in all these circumstances we hav never heard that these fire fighters hav successfully put out the fire. The autholities must look into this someone is sleeping on the job.

  15. remember that the best tactic in fire fighting its from the early stage , but from the look of things malawi has no enough fire engines currently and those in high office should think twice before a big fire which will cost the country a lot! mind you we have got a lot of well trained firefighters in the country but the main problem its good fire engines and fire hydrants in our cities and districts! sorry to mzuni.

  18. Universities need to have water hydrants. So if you vandalised then how do you expect to extingiush the fire???You cant tell a human being as stupid you need to find out why it was like that??

  19. Information based on hearsay is not worth to believe. Students never pelted stones onto the Fire Brigade vehicles. They were just blocked from entering the main gate.

  21. Fires are now changing course, from markets to universities libraries,so unfortunate indeed.A library is the epicentre of university education. Going forward;
    1. studies must continue with a different approach of full teaching spoon freeding than lecturing to compensate for library refrerence losses
    2. Arrange for inter library book loan scheme with university of malawi colleges and luanar who also teaches simmilar programs. This is at a cost of course
    3. Inniate to create more of online repositories of publications than conventional library collections as it were
    4. Allocate specific wifi bundles to each student to enable him or her hsve unlimited access to internet to search and download relevant reference and reading materials. It is a must that every university student owns a laptop for this cause. These days you can get anything and understand a course through online searches and suceed as long as you are able to comprehend the syllabus and what you are getting from the sesrch engines.
    5. It is high time all libraries in Malawi step up their fire prevention measures by installing modern equipments and gadgets. Library staff and students upon first year admission be drilled on basic fire fighting skills since it needs no further justification that the countrys fire departments are incapable of performing their duties
    6.This being a tragedy I hope MZUNI had an insurance cover on some properties apart from vehicles. In this regard there is need for an appeal for book donation from all well wishers ranging from individuals, corporate citixens and intetnational agencies. Chinese, American and British embassies, computer vending companies can come to a quick resque. I propose each student and allumni contribute a minimum of K10,000 out of generosity towards MZUNI Library disaster book fund. A special account can be created for this account led by The college registrar. Government in its February mid term bufghet review can waiver some monies towards reconstructing the libtary
    6.There is need to establish the cause of the fire and devise appropiate mesures to avert such a tragedy in future. Arson by students is out of question as it stands

    While we all regret the incident, but the lessons out of it makes us emerge out stronger and for sure MZUNI will rise up and soldier on……

  22. Fires are now changing course, from markets to universities libraries,so unfortunate indeed.A library is the epicentre of university education. Going forward;
    1. studies must continue with a different approach of full teaching spoon freeding than lecturing to compensate for library refrerence losses
    2. Arrange for inter library book loan scheme with university of malawi colleges and luanar who also teaches simmilar programs. This is at a cost of course
    3. Inniate to create more of online repositories of publications than conventional library collections as it were
    4. Allocate specific wifi bundles to each student to enable him or her hsve unlimited access to internet to search and download relevant reference and reading materials. It is a must that every university student owns a laptop for this cause. These days you can get anything and understand a course through online searches and suceed as long as you are able to comprehend the syllabus and what you are getting from the sesrch engines.
    5. It is high time all libraries in Malawi step up their fire prevention measures by installing modern equipments and gadgets. Library staff and students upon first year admission be drilled on basic fire fighting skills since it needs no further justification that the countrys fire departments are incapable of performing their duties
    6.This being a tragedy I hope MZUNI had an insurance cover on some properties apart from vehicles. In this regard there is need for an appeal for book donation from all well wishers ranging from individuals, corporate citixens and intetnational agencies. Chinese, American and British embassies, computer vending companies can come to a quick resque. I propose each student and allumni contribute a minimum of K10,000 out of generosity towards MZUNI Library disaster book fund. A special account can be created for this account led by The college registrar. Government in its February mid term bufghet review can waiver some monies towards reconstructing the libtary
    6.There is need to establish the cause of the fire and devise appropiate mesures to avert such a tragedy in future. Arson by students is out of question as it stands

    While we all regret the incident, but the lessons out of it makes us emerge out stronger and for sure MZUNI will rise up and soldier on……

  24. Kupita kozimitsa moto ndichimodzi modzi kupita kunkhondo koma ngati firefighter apita kokazimitsa moto opanda zida monga tikumvera kuti anapita opanda madzi sikulakwa kuwatchula zitsiru, They were supposed to be well equiped and firefighters on duty do not spend nights at home.

  26. can someone in government create a platform where by children of malawians in diaspora come back to Malawi to help the country move forward thwy are there waiting for that opportunity thank you

  29. You student you don’t know who is stupid. In the first place you are stupid. In this way. 1. Your management should should have also followed fire deft measures by installing sprinclers in the Library and that fire could have been stopped at the very word Go when it started at that same spot. 2. You management could have put pipes where the water tanker could have been filling water from just within the premise. Did they have fire alarms systems in place that could have warned everyone including yourself. Before you point fingers at the water people point them to your lself not following public places regulations on fire management. You are stupid also for not doing this in the first place.

  30. mmmmh, they should not call the fire fighters stupid after all by the time the library was on fire, the fire fighters were sleeping in their homes its not their fault that the fire wasnt contained cause it happened at unexpected hour. sorry for the loss of ur books mzuni students.

    1. no, fire departments are supposed to be manned 24/7 and not 8/7. Zulu K has summed it all, there are no real fire departments in mw.

    3. even it is a 24 hour job, they cant be called stupid coz they have failed their job. sorry for mzuni students for their loss of library.

  33. musavutike kutukwana ana a xul muma comment anu… remember they r 2moro bosses winawe maphunziro adakukanika…..

  35. Kupusa ndiye kumeneku.wat part did u take on dat.nokha mudziwerenge nonse munakaviika maguza anu ndikudzadzana m’menemo moto udakthawa.koma m’mafuna wina afere mabillion anu omwe anali m’mabukmo ngati kuti mudzamugaila.kumaganiza changu.mental sums simunapangeko eti.Jkup n watch ur mouth kids.peace 2u o .

Comments are closed.