-Mother of Matadi’s Fire Victims Laments
By Jerromie S. Walters & Vaye A. Lepolu
Monrovia, Liberia – Martha’s two daughters were among the four children who lost their lives in a fire incident early Thursday at her mother’s home in Matadi Community. What hurts her the most is that the last time she saw them was less than a week ago. Now, she may never see them again because her relatives fear that viewing their bodies would only deepen her grief. However, she insists: “I can’t believe it. My daughter was with me last week. I want go see it [the corpse].”
The victims—Emmanuel Flomo, 8; Marcus Momolu, 12; Elizabeth Momolu, 6; and Lusu Kamara, 2—were asleep when flames engulfed their home. Their grandmother, who was also inside, survived after neighbors pulled her to safety. But for the children, rescue came too late.
What went wrong?
Eyewitnesses say the fire began in the room of 12-year-old Marcus, where a mosquito coil had been left burning—a common practice in Liberian households to ward off insects. Wilfred Johnson, a relative of the family, recounted that the grandmother had given Marcus the coil before bed, unaware of the danger it posed. The Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS) confirmed in its preliminary report that the blaze likely started from the unattended coil.
However, LNFS investigators also pointed to blocked alleyways that delayed firefighters. Col. G. Warsuwah Barvoul, Director of the LNFS, explained at the Ministry of Information Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) press briefing that despite arriving just 11 minutes after the emergency call, crews were unable to reach the burning house due to illegal structures obstructing the narrow road.
“The fire team arrived promptly but could not reach the house due to structures obstructing the pathway,” he said and further noted, “This delay unfortunately contributed to the loss of young lives.” The tragedy has reignited public outrage over poor urban planning and the flouting of safety regulations. Col. Barvoul warned: “This should serve as a wake-up call.”
A Recurring Nightmare:
On January 11, 2024, a terrible fire incident occurred in Caldwell, Benson Street at the residence of Mr. Moses Sneh. The incident led to the death of his two (2) kids.
Simultaneously, late January 12, 2024, a zinc apartment gutted fire on Karpeh Street in New Kru Town. The situation resulted in the instant death of three persons. (A woman and her two children).
On February 8, 2024, Montserrado County Senator Saah Joseph narrowly escaped death when his home in Congo Town was gutted by fire. He and other occupants of the house were left stranded as the fire engulfed the building.
Senator Joseph was not the only resident in Congo Town whose property was destroyed. A few blocks away up London Hill, Elvis A. Tamba’s three-bedroom house was also burned. Tamba said he woke up in the middle of the night and began to smell burned rubber, and when he came out of the room to look, half of his house was in flames.
On February 16, 2024, the home of a single mother who had gone to fetch her daily bread was gutted by fire during the early hours In Omega, Redhill Community, Paynesville. The single mother who lost her husband a year ago, also tragically lost her home to the violent fire without taking any of her belongings. The incident left the family in a vulnerable position, seeking help from the public.
On February 21, 2024, five persons died in a fire incident in Duport Road, District #4, Montserrado County. According to the community dwellers, the five persons included Jennifer Johnson (37 yrs), Pauline Myers (26 yrs), Eleazar P. Zamerzar (16 yrs), Cecelia Fallah (11 yrs) Alexander Johnson (4 yrs).
Again on February 28, 2024, another home fell prey to the fire crisis in Paco Island, Congo Town. OK FM Julius Jeh reported: “Somewhere in the distance from where I am standing, another building is on fire right now. I had to zoom my phone camera 10x to get this shot. As much as we try to take all of the precautions, the rate at which these fire incidents are occurring is alarming.”
Less than four days following Jeh’s report, another fire incident occurred on Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Barnesville, Kebbah, where a seven-bed room home burned completely. Fortunately, it didn’t result in any death.
As the night of Sunday placed Kebbah’s fire incident in the past, it took just a few hours for another horrific experience, as an aggressive fire ravaged a School and a worship center along Tubman Boulevard in Sinkor, on Monday, March 4, 2024. The Apostolic Foundation High School and the Fire for Fire International Ministries were gutted on Fire during the early afternoon hours. The incident took place just when hundreds of students were still in school in the facility.
Some fires have been linked to faulty wiring, others to negligence—like the unattended mosquito coil in this latest tragedy. But underlying it all some say is a “failure of enforcement”: clogged streets, illegal constructions, and a lack of public awareness on fire safety. Following previous incidents, the LNFS procured several fire trucks to help address what some saw as a fire crisis.
Also in early April, the Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS) intensified its fire prevention efforts with a safety awareness campaign in West Point, one of Monrovia’s most fire-prone communities. The initiative, held on Thursday, April 10, 2025, aimed to educate residents on hazard prevention and emergency response.
