 Y254. Imagine! Well, a very good morning to you. Thank you so much for sticking with us right here on Y in the Morning. My name is Ram Aguco. It's a pleasure being with you on this fine Tuesday morning. Remember, we are coming to you live from the broadcasting house here in Nairobi, Kenya. We are also streaming live through our website. And that's www.kebc.co.ke-y254. It is all about matters concerning your health right here on Y in the Morning. And of course, even as we proceed with this morning conversation, we value your feedback. Thank you so much for being with us. The hashtag as always is Y in the Morning at Ram Aguco, which is my handle. And the official session handle is at Y254 channel. Today is all about matters concerning your health right here on Y in the Morning. I want to talk about fire safety and burns right here on Y in the Morning. Fire safety and burns awareness. How safe are you in terms of fire procedures? How safe are you when it comes to safety? Assuming that fire broke out where you are right now. That's right. Where you are right now? What protocols do you have in place that you will follow to help you and your loved ones and those around you safe? If fire broke out, where you are right now? Are you safe? Let's talk about these matters concerning fire safety and burns awareness today. I am with Michael Gitao. He is the MD of Ethnomed Healthcare Incorporative Specialist. He is an emergency care and safety specialist. Garbisana Michael. Thank you very much. How are you feeling, my brother? I'm alright. Thanks for coming. Thanks for coming. It's been a while, but I'm happy to be here. The last time you said you were at Y, it was two years ago. Is it two years? No, last year? Yes, it was roughly around the end of 2019 when we just had an outbreak of COVID. And we had a lengthy discussion here. That's pretty much the time. Then a few times I know I've been invited, but I've not been within the country. So I said, well, when I'm here, why not? Welcome back. I appreciate your presence. Tell us something. For somebody who is meeting you for the first time today, something a bit more about what you do because I'm seeing you are from also Ethnomed Healthcare. Yes. And here, before we talk about matters concerning fire safety and burns, also tell us the nexus between these two also. Something a bit more about what you do first. Okay. As Mike, what he does out there, an emergency care specialist, I deal with the patients, and when I'm not doing that, I'm also in sensitization. So that's how we think about with Ethnomed Healthcare Inc. As an institute, we have majorly two branches. And one of them, as you see, as Ethnomed, we have integrated medicine and research in it. So one side, we do clinical research. This is surveillance. And also, we do investigation, perhaps the cases of imagining diseases. So behind me, I have a very big team of specialists, doctors who are specialists in different lines. Then from the recent, that's why I think it came in and we were discussing about some of these outbreaks, like, for example, infectious diseases because that's some of the things that we handle. Then, and we are able, once we do the research and analyze, we also now advise, be it international bodies or even us here, the Minister of Health. The other section is that we find that apart from being closed in that sort of specialized group, then we also do training and advocacy. And these now do a lot of sensitization now to the public. And this is where we have occupational health and safety trainings coming in. We have fasted coming in. We have fire safety coming in. We also do medical exam, fitness to work medical exam for staff. So we have a specialized group that we work with as Ethnomed Healthcare. Yes, that's what we are. And now it brings us to this discussion today on fire safety, bounce awareness. Yes. Why is this important for the Kenyan youth watching us today to listen? Why is it important for the Kenyan youth to listen to this particular discussion here, fire safety? Because some might say, ah, just some important, some less significant discussion, but it is something that is of value. Yes. Why? Now, we do realize all of us that fire is a good master. However, he is also a very bad master, which means if you use it the right way, because we use it for various reasons. We use it for cooking. We use it for warming ourselves. Yes. We use it for industrial purposes. But now if it is not controlled in the right way, then it will become destructive. So this is what, and most of all we would say these are called the life skills because you do not know when the fire will break out. Yes. When it becomes now the dangerous part of it. Now, that is the reason why we are coming into sensitizing. One of the key why is doing the fire safety and bounce awareness because every time you have a fire, you are likely to get an injury. Yes. And these injuries, when they get to the hospital, I will tell you what, to treat burns, it is one of very expensive, very, very expensive medical care. And that is why we are coming into, why don't we do more of prevention and response and the treatment. Yes. And this is why now we started off these, it actually started quite a while because this forum, we have a forum as a fire safety and bounce awareness forum. And this forum is involved with different stakeholders because we realize currently fire has been categorized as a disaster. So you realize that disaster cannot be managed by one entity, neither one group. So now we come in as different stakeholders. So we are talking about government ministries. We have state and non-state actors which are nonprofit, faith-based organization. And these, just to mention a few, we have like the National Disaster Management Unit. That is the underwing of the National Police because anywhere you have disasters, they do respond. So burns is one, the fires are one of the disasters. So this is why you chose this area of fire and bounce awareness? Yes. So now the other stakeholders we have now, like band society of Kenya which now have the specialists who are, you know, surgeons, plastic surgeons, you know, reconstructive of that. We have also Kenyatta National Hospital, we have a band unit. Now Ethnomed comes in as a stakeholder also because we supplement, all right, in terms of the education, prevention. Also we have specialists who attend to these cases. And now we also have cases of where you have the media fraternity they come in. We have Kenya Red Cross. We could have St. John Ambulance coming in. We have the fire brigade. All these are responders. We all respond in this forum because all of us, we have a role to play. And that's why one of the things that we do as stakeholders is to sensitize the community. So it has been an annual event. However fires, it's not a one event. It is a frequent and we have a lot of them happening in the country. And this is why it's important to have this discussion here, my brother. And mainly you mentioned it earlier on that it's a very expensive thing. Yes. And many Kenyans may not understand how expensive it may be. Yes. Dealing with bands. Yes. How bad can it be when it comes to, you know, dealing or treating treatment of bands, especially in the country here? Now there is a big statistic that has been recorded now by like Kenyatta National Hospital and also the Minister of Health. So we're finding every year you'll find approximately 200,000 patients. Bands. 200,000. Yes. And now these are the cases that are reported in the hospital because some don't necessarily even go to the hospital. Yeah. Some decide to go for home treatment. Exactly. Now we have those who are severely injured. Those who get severe bands are the ones you find mostly now in the, maybe in the local hospitals like the level four within a certain county. But now also we have to refer to major hospitals like now Kenyatta National Hospital where we have the band center. If you talk to specialists, especially the plastic surgeons, when you're doing that process, the dependence with the severity of that band is actually the bill will go into millions. One patient. Then you look at the, yes, one patient. Wow. It will roll into a million, Bob. And now, because you have series of well surgeries, treatment follow-up treatment, that is just the cost you're looking at. But now what happened, the effect of that band survivor? Psychologically affected. They have, yes, the post-traumatic stress disorder, yes to say, but they are affected because it changes even their physical, how they look physically. Because once you get a band, you never go back. It actually leave a very big scar. And perhaps even yourself, if you ever got a band when you were a child, if you go back the same spot, you'll find that scar there. There's a scar there. Yes. And people tend to try to adapt to this scar in different ways. Some even get tattoos to cover it up. Exactly. It affects the self-esteem. Exactly. So you see how it is affecting. Then also, as just mentioned about case of self-esteem, these, some of them, if they're children, they're not able to integrate with the rest of the children, be it at schools, be it within the community. So that also has a very, very big repercussion. So bands, where we hear about the cases of fires, then we also are looking at the end result of the bands as well. So this is why the sensitization is key. Because a fire can be in your house, can be in your car, can be in a studio like this. It can be everywhere, be it even out there to some of our communities where even we live. So it is our responsibility. It is actually everyone's responsibility to safeguard against outbreaks of fires. Let's talk about that now. Safeguarding. Yes. There are many different sources of outbreaks. Sources of fire. Yes. Gas leaders. Electrical problems, some wiring somewhere, some malfunction somewhere. Yes. Power outages. Yes. So many different causes of fires. And I want us to narrow this discussion down to each one and how we can be able to prevent them. Okay. How can we ensure that our homes are safe from fires? Now, again, the first point is prevention by acquiring skills and getting knowledge. So be it as a parent, then they ought to lead the children in the setup. Parents lead children in the setup. Parent leading them because now they had, yes, you ought to be the one teaching the children. You know, parents are afraid. And as a chomeka, and as a umia. So they, monotony of no leads there. Just in the way like for example, you can never go and sip a hot coffee or tea because perhaps your parents told you, you need to let it cool. Otherwise you're going to get banned. Yeah. All right. You know that is a one or type of a ban as well. It is, but yes it is. It doesn't hit me as one. Ah-ha. But you get banned in your mouth. Yeah. And if you take perhaps a hot liquid like Uji, you'll feel it when it's going all the way down. It actually bans you. It is really bans in your gut. Yeah. Now that's where it is a transfer of knowledge that helps us now at least to know what to do and what not to do. Now, if you went down to the specific, one of the biggest, the number, let me just talk of the group that is highly currently reported in the Minister of Health where you find the biggest number of bans are the age between two and five years. That the highest, when if you go to the band center. 25. Yes. That's the biggest group they're going to find in the band center. Why? Because there's a very active age. They don't even know that in an invention stage. You know someone may wonder, is it the fault of the parent who is not creating a safe environment for children age between two and five to play around in. Parents can end up blaming themselves. That's why you said now the parent, that home, they ought to have the knowledge first. If you have a nanny or the house managers we call them, they also need to be taught because some point we don't have these trainings most of the time in curriculums. Like perhaps, I don't know which curriculums you did. You might find some of us perhaps they did a small segment, either in campus or in colleges or maybe just a mention, but not in depth of that in a training. So we find out sometimes we forget. I don't know these things. It was mentioned at some point in school. Yes. But there's no weight given to it. Yes. So now, how do we prevent like, for example, we one again another causation is fires resultant of the gas, which is RPG. So there is a compliance actually released by the energy regulations which now controls all the gas that all the cylinders must comply. Then that when you're buying your gas cylinder, then you ought to get it from the authorized dealer. Because it has to go through, you know, a quality assessment. Does it have the right weight? Does it have a seal or the valve that is connecting well? Yeah. If there is a 40 in it, why can you return it back? Then they will tell you when you go home how to connect it. Okay. And even the tubing that you have, then you also to check because it has durability also. Yeah. Yes. Now, if you don't have the right setup within that, then you're likely now to have an explosion out of it or someone just go and light it. And there is, you know, they're not lighting. They just open the regulator and it is just leaking the air. That fire is very, very devastating because now the gas comes in the air. So again slightly because it's lighter, it's hanging up here. So in this light of a spark, there's an explosion. So the gas cylinders, one of the biggest problem is that, but it's not because the cylinders are bad. It is now us who are using them that we are not following the regulations. Which even if you go online, you're going to see all the steps. They're there. That where you buy it, even you are told even to buy and you retain a receipt. So that tells you if you have a problem, you have a dealer that you can go to. But most of us just make a phone call. They let the gas come in. Exactly. So yeah. That is one of the problems. So I'm not saying that gases themselves are bad. It's just how we manage them. We should have knowledge on how we buy, how we use, how we dispose. Exactly. How we buy, where we buy it from, how we transport it to a home, where we store it in our homes because we don't want to keep it everywhere. You keep on heating it. So it needs to be in a safe area because remember this is gas. It doesn't need to be kept on. Move me every now and again. So those are the parameters. Now the other fires that you talked about is electricity. Yeah. Electrical. Now electricity. All of us we use electricity in one way or the other. But the problem now comes in because of the 40 connections. It's not because of the electricity cells. But it's because of 40 connections. Yeah. The other day we were having an engagement with a Kenyan power and lighting company. Some of the things, the biggest problem we are facing within some areas is you'll find that we have cables that are running all over within the community. That power, if you go and ask who connected that, it's perhaps some smart guy within the estate who just came and connected wires. And they are, you know, they're hanging all over. Yes, they're hanging all over. And it is not done the right way. So even if you have an appliance that you're using, be it maybe iron box, be it your toaster or juicer or any appliance or including the TV, the likelihood of the short circuit in it. That's max. Now cost what? Now the fire. Yeah. So that will, then again, because whoever is touching that electricity, perhaps they are not trained technicians, electricity in terms of electrical wise, then they get electrocuted. Now electrocution, it can kill you or can leave you with devastating injury because the currency, when it flows into the human body, you already have a currency right now that is flowing. Because for your heart to operate, there is a currency that is working. So these kinds of outside is higher than the one that is in the body. So what happens most likely with the heart, get hit, it will stop. Correct arrest. I got you. Then the pathway it will follow, which is the nervous system, it will have an effect, the damage. This shock. Yes. That's what we call the electrocution. Okay. So now that person who has been electrocuted, it either they can completely pass out completely, they go into unconsciousness, or they can even die depending with the voltage. So that is a parameter when you're talking of electricity. So what I could encourage the rest is that, let's use electricity the right way, have the certified electrician to come and connect, you know, come and do the connection within the house. And this is the house or even at workplaces also. But then there is that aspect of quality assurance. Yes. You know, there is an electrician that my best friend has told me about. You know, he's very good. He has this company, you know, he gives you receipts, he did it for my friend in, I don't know, this place. I can bring him for you. You can also use this electric. How do you ensure quality? I have a story for that. Just a very quick one. I had one time, I had a straight over problem with my power in my house. So every time you connect a special machine, I had this backup big computer, you remember the old stage of this laptop. So every time you connect, you could hear static noise coming from the main box. Which we mostly ignore. So from my perspective, I knew there must be something wrong. So I called him, I tried to look for an electrician I didn't find, so I called one of my friends, I said, hey, who fixes the electricity in your house? He told me, I have so and so. So I called this gentleman, he tells me, ah, I'm not there but I'm sending you someone. So now you see the chain. So this gentleman comes over to my house. He tells me, okay, you have a problem, I told him what a problem. He went straight to where, so he told me, all right, give me a ladder, he went up there. The behavior itself, because now I didn't do due diligence, he went up there in his opening and I walked up straight to the, you know, from the corridor I went to the door. And I asked him, all right, how long have you been doing this work? He said, you know, my grandfather was doing it, my uncle was doing it, I am doing it. This thing is running, you know, family. He touched, I don't know where he, what he touched. The next minute, the next few seconds, he's on the floor. At this point, where were you standing? I was on the door because I suspect what he was doing. I just felt it. So after that it would come along or anything? What I mean, I watched from far. He got knocked down, he wake up and he asked me what happened. Between me and you, I don't know what happened, you're the one who touched there. So he's asking you what happened? Yes, what happened. So he basically got electrocuted. Wow. The reason is this was not a certified electrician. And I know currently there is, even they have a certain body that regulates the certified technicians. So if you just need to check, if you go online and you just Google, you see a certain number, you send their name through that short message and you get a reply. Is this a certified or not a certified? So get the name, for example, the name Samuel, I mean Michael Gitao. So we send the name Michael Gitao to this particular number and they'll be able to respond to you whether they are certified electricians or not. Yes. Just the way happened in the medical side, you just need to check my license number, the same thing. So it has been a little bit. So for the electricians, those are the same. Exactly. It is there. It is just that, and there have been a lot of sensitization if you check with even Kenyapo and Letton. If you just go on their website, you'll find all these instructions there. So these are some of the problems we're finding within the estates. The other causation of burns you find now within home setups is causation of liquids or chemicals. Whether get the burns or scalds. And this mostly is as a parent of the house managers who are with the kids, how, you know, they manage the house. So you're cooking and you're not observing what you're doing, perhaps you're doing, you're cooking your mandazi. And the kids are just running around. So whenever they dip in their hand there, the next thing, they get a significant, either mild or severe burn. So now it depends on what they were exposed to. Chemicals are very key also in industries. So if you don't have the right personal protective equipment, then you're exposed also to sort of burns, the chemical burns. So all these, I believe every company that is working and they have burns, sorry, they have chemicals, then there is what is called the material safety data sheet. And these tell you the kind of the chemical that you have. If anyone gets burned or gets exposed to what are the procedures to be followed, from the decontamination, how to manage those burns, mild from the fasting level, all the way until they're taken to the hospital. All right. Now I want us to take a few steps back and just go through some of these things that you've just mentioned there. Advice to parents, you have a two-year-old, three-year-old, four-five-year-old. You're saying that we need to decipher this knowledge to our children. What would your advice be to that parent watching you today, that young couple watching you that has a two-year-old child and they want to make their home safe for this child, especially now that you are having this conversation. Talk to them. Well, what I would first now advise them. We have so many sources of getting information and knowledge. Some others can go to their cell phones, others could go even on internet and check all this information. But we also have training institutions that can take you through the training also. Where they come and demonstrate practically, if you get a burn or someone gets a burn, what do you do? They should go for training. They should go for the training. There should be S for physical training. We also offer those trainings. And other organizations, other stakeholders in the country, they also offer the same. So once they have trained, they are able to transfer the knowledge to the nannies or the baby-minders who are with their children. Even if it is that mother or that parent who is going to be with their child, already they have no knowledge on what to do. Because you cannot control a child 100%. At some point they may sneak around you. They may sneak around you. Even as me, especially at some point, I've had this study happen in my house. But the point is even if someone gets burnt, you know what to do. What are the first steps? All of a sudden, they are noisy and from nowhere, silence. Exactly. And at some point, you know you're tired. You're just chilling in and the next minute it's quite screaming now. So now, because of the training you're told now, if there's someone has been burnt or the child has been burnt, what to do? What to do? For this in this case is cooling because there is a process to stop someone who has burnt is cooling because it stops the burning process. How do you cool? And you cool with water. Just no more water. Running tap water. We can get to the ice as well. But the initial one, if you have running tap water, it is the most ideal. If you don't have the tap water running, the tap running and you have a bucket there, you can scoop and irrigate because this is causing the cooling effect. If you have ice cubes, then you need to wrap ice cube with something so that you place it on the skin because direct ice cube will cause a problem later on. And especially if you may have found two types of ice, it could be either water ice or dry ice. They actually can burn you also where you get a cold burn or frostbite. And it can actually stick on the skin. So now that's where you wrap it with a cloth. Then you cool there. For how long? Usually within 10 minutes, you'll find the effect or the pain has subsided. Now you mentioned water. Sometimes putting your hand that has just been burnt through water is even more painful than whatever burnt in the first place. I believe that is true. You're saying that just do it. No. What happens is, once you get burnt immediately, because there is a heat that is there. So how do you, you know, cool off? How do you eliminate this heat? It's by cooling. So when you run that tap water there or you get a jug and you irrigate in there where there is a burnt area, then it causes the cooling effect. So there is no progress. You're not continuously. You know what happens? There is a continuation of damage to the cells. Remember here we're talking about now first aid. Yes. It is now the first aid treatment. So after putting that burnt area through running water, the next step is to wrap a cloth around it. Yes. Once you cool it completely, then you can wrap on a clean, you know, clean cloth or a clean material. If you have a first aid box and majority of homes I would really encourage us. First aid box or first aid kit. Buy them. Let's buy them. It's a small kit. It may cost you maybe 3,000 Bob. It is a small and it has those dressing in there, the right ones. Then you can use. And also there is a ban cream that can be applied. I remember back in the day we used to have these. So you come about to use GV. I don't know. I have seen it does not have a lot of positivity in the treatment. But you do remember it was the treatment for everything. Yes, yes, yes. And also there are those who also, apart from the cooling and applying the right material, then they use perhaps Oonga, Mazua, or others would tell you let's use petroleum products. How does this funny, funny thing is this, remember whatever you do immediate on that ban, that what will end up saying is this ban, how is this banned area, how is this wound going to heal. So the way you manage that now give even the end result. That's why the right mechanism, that's why water, I'm sure water is available everywhere. The right one to use is that one. Because we know we might be coming from resource strained settings. So water would be the right one. And from there on take them to the nearest hospital for father investigation and father treatment. But one thing that I want you to also mention. Yes. Panic. A parent has just come home. Yes. And in Mechomeka, when then under the nannies watch. And now there is panic in the room. And now there is chaos even scaring the child. Now you see, if you for example, if you go to your house and you find that case scenario and start screaming. So whose fault is it now? Because one, you're not actually addressing the problem. You're actually aggravating. Because when you're screaming and you're talking all this loudly, you're not helping this banned child or the banned victim or this person who has been banned. So the first thing is if you have knowledge on the scale, I believe that's the best the best weapon that you can always because when you have knowledge what to do, you know what need to be done then why would you do it? There is that aspect of panic but it's not going to be heightened because you'll be doing something. Other they scream of course a lot of mess around because they don't know what to do. Some point it could be an engine at home and you find a nannies house manager has to call the parent to come home instead of you empowering that nanny that there's something he can do to take the either to attend there alternatively from attending there when they are able now to transport that victim to the nearest facility. You drive there and meet up them there. So you want to drive all the way home then you see now what are you doing? Wasting time. Wasting time and as you wasting time what is happening to the injury it is aggravating so even the recovery or the therapy part of it it is delayed remember we talked about the cost that's how you accumulate the cost. Sometimes some of this nannies even panic when the child gets burnt now they keep quiet they can't call they can't do anything they keep quiet and try to do their own first aid to the child. And this you find because you're finding that is because they have inadequate perhaps in their training and that's what we try to sensitize as much to go to even to churches to go to the religious institutions within community where you can gather them at least give knowledge on these kids on how to handle because now whenever you have all these information look at the cases even on the roads we're having tankers you know spilling and you guys feel and the next a slight spark what are you going to have a very devastating injuries out there but mostly is because some people don't have this knowledge you think they do but they really don't. I'm looking at the aspect of a fire outbreak inside a home in a home or in an organization let's put them all together because of time we can clamp them all together safety precautions once there is a fire and you know sometimes people don't notice it until it's too late when you see the smoke the color in the room is not the normal one safety precautions once there is a fire outbreak in the home at home the first we want to identify where the source of fire where they come from then from there on we'll be telling you are you able to handle if it's a fire for example you have a fire extinguisher how are you going to extinguish it if you have a blanket that you can go and cover that fire then the next is to exit as you have switched off the put of the fire because there is smoke so what I'll tell you when you're going out then go low meaning stoop if you cannot stoop or crawl that would be the best why? oxygen is more concentrated on the lower side than the smoke because smoke is lighter goes up these are toxins if you're standing you inhale them but if you're low stoop and go out it is very safe it would be the way to get out of that building then call for the fire brigade now the good thing is now calling for the fire brigade is just calling through using the triple 9 a 999 or 911 or 112 some Kenyans complain that when you call the fire brigade they take a lot of time to get there with the history what I've seen I've worked with them for quite a significant number of years they just don't have as a citizen they don't have these emergency numbers you start calling someone so and so who can I call in fire brigade you're not calling the communication center so if you call them late they'll come late that's a ripple effect that's why most of the time they'll come that's why we insist please public is that they need to know the emergency numbers and those by emergency numbers most of now they're coordinated by the control room as a national level then you can get across all of them then the case of the workplaces also every workplace ought to have a policy in regard to the fire safety and it is not a request actually a compliance from the minister of labor that you ought to have a compliance every business must have I think this is a certificate yes that's now comes in the bylaw because the certificate forget from the city council but the compliance from the occupation health and safety act it is there that you need to have a fire safety policy meaning you need to have people who are trained in fire response you first have fire extinguishers you have installation detectors all that fire assembly points yes you need to have exit emergency exit that are working then assembly point then also have those emergency numbers or the responders who can come and help you those are the policies that you need to have in the company so this has to be laid down and the only way it can be very efficient especially at the workplaces is when you have new staff there is induction then there is what is called now compliance trainings the health occupation health and safety training there is a fire safety training that is a mandatory every organization must take it and these actually trainings are annual you don't take it today and you'll do another training after five years no it is every year it is recommended for you to do that so that training for your staff for the staff in the organization for the people that you are working with at your business at your organization every year yes and it doesn't matter whether it is a school it is a religious institution be it a hospital be it even those community level so it is everyone's responsibility to ensure that and if they do it in organization you should also have trainings where families attend yes I love that so these once you have drained the now the you see when the employees who are in the companies you also say they are still the same community so if you have really done the training they will transfer the knowledge again within their own community so their homes are safe or the community is safe now there is something you said that you said that first of all recognize the source of the fire what if you can't what if the fire is too much yes and now you are in a state of panic you are thinking what do I do who do I call you don't know what to do so now in that case your safety comes first so the first way you know you can do is get out of that building let's get out first just get out of that building because as the fire is growing what is happening you have toxic materials that are burning and these are like for example you are getting carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide all these you inhaling as you keep on inhaling what are they happening they have a direct effect to your health so they will lead you when you have blood vision the next thing you can collapse in there so you want to be outside where it is safe now start calling for help when you are already outside some people start screaming when they are inside the house more talk when you are inside who is really going to help you so you need to be outside where you can now someone help when you are safe already if you have someone who is stuck inside the building and they are not able to because that's why firefighters if you call them early they don't actually come and fight the fire first they actually come inside the building rescue or save the life then they start fighting the fire to prevent to protect the to save the property that's how the case scenario is so if you call them late you will have a problem in some estates you will find when there is a fire outbreak people now start gathering around there and then some mutes to take ladders and they start breaking the windows they start pouring water inside the house how safe is that it is some point you will find they are doing the right thing sometimes not all the time they will do the right thing they want to help but some point they don't have the right knowledge of the skill or the mechanism to respond to that and that's where you find they want to help however they do help also because they will come with buckets of water they will come with maybe soil others have extinguishers they will come and help but they talked about the identifying what is burning because some point you may use the wrong media to put off the fire for example it is electrical fire you throw water on it what happens you are making it worse exactly so that's where it is a point of assess are we able to help here or not so that's what you talk about the safety but now people in the estates might not understand what has caused fire in block B so they will just start pouring water so that it is an electrical fault what do you do do you leave it to burn so that an expert can come and assess I think what I will say again in line what we had mentioned about prevention in those courts because in a court and you know each other why don't you just call a specialist just to come and take you through we take just a few hours tell you what to do and this will involve the community the whole of the households including the children all of them together there and you do those practicals so in case this court this court has done that sensitization the other one the other one and the other one or even within a community and some will say it only happens maybe even on the high ends are able to do that no fire can happen anywhere so if it is with those areas of the court let them get someone to take them through if it is within the some of the pockets we have like in the slums be it like Matheria we have Coyole we have Kibera we have professionals who usually go there but you know weekly basis is to train those community so the point is just for you to go there and attend that's it now I am looking at a parent whose child is getting electrocuted yeah you don't know what to do you know people have very funny ways of handling that let's create awareness of that in regards to that my child is being electrocuted I am a parent I am seeing I am not a necessary parent a friend of mine is being electrocuted I am seeing being electrocuted what do I do now you already know what the causation of the problem you know the danger so the first thing is I will not tell you to go touch that person because they are already live if you touch them you will get the same repo effect so the first thing you want to go is switch off that electricity if it is a generator switch it off well it is not very it might really help because you might get the cable off the live cable off the person who is getting electrocuted that particular moment but does not make that area safe for you you may go and stop on it by mistake so yes the first thing you tell you switch off once you know it is switched off the area is safe no not only for the victim or your friend or child but for you because say for example this case if it is one person who has touched that live wire they are already now electrocuted and perhaps they have it is maybe a big electrical pole there is a massive caress going through so if you touch that perhaps it is going to give you a cardiac caress or so so there is a procedure that you need to attend to this person perhaps come and do CPR now it is not going to help so go straight on switch it off once the power is off come and attend to this go to the main switch exactly yes now what if the person being electrocuted is being electrocuted alone at the main no no you are at the main switch let's say you send your son because parents send their sons interestingly in Africa if you send your son yes if you send your son to the main socket you can exchange this from this source to the other source shock now this is now you have to respond as an emergency because one why did you send them one are they qualified to do what you told them to do perhaps they are not and most likely they might not be so you expose them to the danger so now you have to respond to that as an incident now so again the same procedure will happen safety dictates it has to start with you so now you have also to ensure that it is now switched off then you start attending now to the victim so you see it is you have to also always to be this is more self awareness it is self awareness so that you know now this has happened what do I need to do perhaps you boil in water the souffre is there and the child goes and you know they are deep in there or perhaps they are playing around there is a basin and they are inside there you see the first thing you want to do is get remove this victim out of the danger that's what you want to do first remove the child out of the danger then you can pour this water or you can cool it later on because sometimes they play around and then they knock the stove off all that hot water pours on them even hot water hot boiling beads so all that as the first thing you say now you respond this is the first aid now mission and it is critical for you to attend to the victims the right way otherwise they end up having all these significant scars and it takes time even to treat them even some of these there are putic medication is very costly one perhaps one of them you might find is costing across to about 10,000 it is just one lotion for them to be applying of those contradictions again the point here is more to prevention than to respond if we happen to have an incident let's respond now in case someone is in their home their house and there is that gas leak I don't know if someone has scared of your gas for hardly what do you do if then you find that the first thing you do want to go is because that as you already know you have a gas cylinder in the house that the first is to go and get that cylinder outside not to throw it but to get it out of the house pick it slowly just pick it normally and go disconnect it and pick it and take it outside but don't light anything because the gas is hanging in the air then when it is outside open the windows and doors irate or ventilate the room so the gas now will be out once completed there is no smell now you can return back now this cylinder before you return back perhaps it is a valve that had an issue if you don't know how to fix it just call the dealer they will tell you what to do or take it directly to them they will go and assess it if it is safe for you then you can return it back to the house if it is 40 then you can now go in they can change the cylinder on your behalf so those are the gas safety regulations but if you are able to the right procedure is to have the gas cylinder outside that is what the regulation is now there is something you mentioned a bit earlier on and you said that we have personal protective equipment yes what are these equipment that we need in our homes and in our organizations that you would advise us to acquire if we do not have them and if we do what are they that needs replacement what are these equipment that you are referring to when you say personal protective equipment equipment it is a very big umbrella of appliances but in the home setup what I would talk of one is like a fasted kit a fasted box contains the supplies that can help you when you are attending to a burnt casualty you have nothing as a fire extinguisher a fire extinguisher comes the same way it will help you to fight off the fire we have fire blankets also a fire blanket and the cheap is about like one you can get it at a cost of about 1500 Michael let me get it straight maybe someone has not understood you well yes you are saying that there is a blanket not the duvet that we use to cover ourselves there is a blanket specifically meant for fire is that what you are saying yes there is and it comes with different sizes it is very easy and this blanket it is packed in a small container where you come and place it on the wall the only thing that you do when there is a fire there is a souffle catching on fire then you just pull it cover and once you cover what it does the fire goes out and it is cheap to use it you have to go to a certain institution to learn on how to use it this is as simple as that then the case another thing you would want to I would encourage people to have fire extinguishers then as we are doing that also encourage our policy makers that we need to have these policies enforced all the way because we do not have a big because you know once we have them sensitizing of the members MCAs and the like they can also sensitize the community to do all these and that will be a good will as well from the national level they are really trying as much to help but we haven't reached everyone however like this year it was very good because we managed to get different counties participating previously we only had Nairobi participating for the fire safety and bans awareness this year we had Mombasa we had Nakuru we had Kisumo coming in so these information is right now to trickle down to the rest and we are looking forward to how we can trickle down all the way to the rest of the counties and all the way to every homestead Amawa you recently had your fire safety and bans awareness week yes that was last week it was last week how was it very good very good yes it we did it has been and actually this is actually a national event we started all the way back in 2009 so every year within the month of August you will find we have the fire safety fire safety and bans awareness week but because of a few challenges here and there logistical issues we had elections coming in so now it was moved to October so last year from Tuesday through Friday we had sensitization and activity in different areas we had different activities happening countrywide and the final day we also had a procession in Nairobi we had a procession and Mombasa they had a procession Kisumo they had a procession then also we conducted a fire drill within an organization just to test the preparedness of that organization and also to create more awareness procession we have we were giving flyers we were giving handbook we had even reading material we actually have a curriculum if you go to the Bans Society of Kenya the website there and many organizations including even Ethnomed Healthcare if you go to the website you will find that edition is actually right now we have a 10th edition of fire safety manual so this is more trying to reach out and it was you asked was it did we have many people coming in yes we had most of the stakeholders just to name a few Bans Society of Kenya we have Kenya International Hospital we have National Disaster Management Unit which is in the wing of the police we have private stakeholders like Ethnomed Healthcare we have Sanjon we have Kenya Red Cruz we have Kenya Power Enlightening we have all the stakeholders and members of the public coming in now let's talk about enterprises and decimies you've seen this happen yes just case in point Gekomba you wake up one morning oh fire outbreak in Gekomba and they happen so frequently yes watch your comment on this what are your thoughts is this lack of preparation lack of awareness lack of training why do we have some cases so many cases of SMEs getting their businesses banned especially in Gekomba and maybe your recommendation well I mean I want to talk on behalf of as I will speak on behalf of Ethnomed and also as an individual perspective yes please there's so many causations of fire it could be case of negligence someone maybe left a plant it ought to be switched off there are so many reasons so mostly you find their negligence or maybe it is an ason or it is a case of maybe equipment has worn out equipment failure that we usually leave it for the investigation of the auditors to come and check what cost it maybe your recommendation now our recommendation is the safety comes in fast at the Gekomba area no enterprise the first thing you want to do is do a risk assessment and a risk assessment as you what are you likely to get exposed and this point in time you find say it is the electrical cables that are not done the right way then you will have now to contact a certified electrician to come and help if it is a case where you finding that people are cooking then the kitchen is it near perhaps you have any flammable materials so perhaps many to get those flammable materials away from where people are cooking because it is an open fire if you have to burn a trash out there it has to be controlled because we don't want to spread the fire so these are the mechanisms that you ought to apply out there and now we have specialists who will come there is an assessment and they do an audit and tell you this is what you need to follow from one point all the way to the end of it so these will give you a holistic idea on what to do then also the fire brigade they will come also and advise you so this is what it is more a part of where we are not following the right measures or the procedures and that is where we are ending up having the footage and we all need to play part in this we need to come in and prevent and participate in the prevention part of the fire I want us to bring this discussion to a close Michael and maybe to give you time to have a parting shot have a final word wrap this discussion up and maybe talk to Kenyans watching it today that's your camera, your final word parting shot as we bring this to a close so viewers out there this is not the first time neither is it going to be perhaps the end fires have been there and we find fires and we end up having burns so it is everyone's responsibility to save fire again so it is important for us to go source for the materials or the knowledge we seek knowledge where we can understand what to do, the prevention part then in case someone gets burnt what do we do from the home setup or where they are burnt all the way to the hospital with that we really, really commend most of us to keep on practicing and we be each other's keeper it's called our brother's keeper and we make our nation a better place to live Azad Asana that is Michael Gitao my brother thank you so much you're doing a good job keep up that fantastic job that fantastic work I know that people have land today from this thank you so much for coming Azad Asana thank you so much for being here today on Why in the Morning but remember we still have more coming up your way my name is Ram Magukko keep it Why in the Morning