Community Fire Safety programmes in Lebanon Karen Rutherford Nicky Thurston Dr Helen Underhill

Lebanon Over a million displaced people are currently registered in Lebanon Approximately 200,000 displaced people live in Informal Tented Settlements (ITS) As of June 2016, there were over 2125 active ITS sites, typically ranging from 1 to 50 tents Sub-standard buildings (SSBs) are usually harder to reach for humanitarian agencies and have not been mapped to the same extent as ITS. 1. Lebanon has the highest number of refugees per capita worldwide. 4. Approximately 400,000 displaced people live in SSB and SSU. These structures include apartments, garages, worksites and unfinished buildings making them often more exposed to the elements than ITS.

Understanding the context Operation Florian carried out a Fire Risk Reduction Assessment, July/August 2017, Published Jan 2017 The assessment was commissioned by Save the Children Lebanon in collaboration with the Lebanese Civil Defence (LCD) In order to understand and prepare for Community Fire Safety delivery in Lebanon this report provided a great insight into the Fire Risks and the conditions faced by refugees in Lebanon LCD: A governmental organisation whose remit covers all matters relating to disasters and accidents caused by natural factors, human negligence or malice. It ensures the protection of property and the environment as well as mitigating dangers to public safety. This includes the provision of firefighting services throughout Lebanon. ****The report provided a great, but being able to visit the camps and sub-standard buildings used as dwellings enabled us to adapt existing Community Fire Safety advice and tailor it for the context. The cultural differences in the perception of fire risk amongst the local Lebanese staff we were training added to the challenge of changing perceptions – because although they were motivated to reduce fire risks for refugees and improve conditions, they were largely unconcerned about some of the basic measures we promote in the UK.

Statistics Increasing numbers of fire incidents, injuries and fatalities in ITS and SSBs are being reported UNHCR Health Department showed that 120 displaced people were admitted with severe burns during 2015 (half from fire, half from scalding) It is concerning to learn that an increasing number of fire incidents, injuries and fatalities are being reported but it is not possible to know the numbers of unreported fire incidents. The LCD recorded at total of 106 IS fires nationally in 2016, and 30 IS fires as of February 2017 which is alarming within a timespan of two months. 50 per cent of the reported injuries were children under the age of five, but these figures reveal the tip of the iceberg in terms of fire incidents and injuries due to UNHCR only having capacity to treat severe, life-threatening cases.

Reported fire reasons Electrical hazards Cooking practice Use of candles Smoking materials Fire setting by children Burning of waste Acts of arson Heating equipment The main causes of fire here look familiar but combine this with population density, flammable building materials, illegal electricity connections and a low level of fire safety knowledge and the problem is significant. Vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly are at particular risk. There were 2 major fires within the first 48 of our arrival, sadly resulting in the fatality of two children.

“The Hazard Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments conducted by the Lebanese Red Cross Disaster Management Unit revealed that across fifteen camps, fire was perceived by the local population, to be the joint second most concerning hazard after flooding. Reportedly even higher priority than health and child education.” An indication that the crisis is entering a new phase can be seen as a result of the Hazard Vulnerability and Capacity assessments where concern of fire is increasing. This, along with the fact that as the situation moves from an emergency response to a protracted crisis, i.e. stabilization phase, creates an opportunity for agencies to prioritize fire risk reduction, and provides evidence to work more closely with communities on improving fire safety awareness and fire response. The motivation and commitment of local NGOs working on this agneda was clear to see throughout our training and delivery.

Tackling Misconceptions Tell, Show, Do Developing and Embedding Learning QA Games Scaffolding Escape Plans Tackling Misconceptions Building Confidence Burns ITS Local NGO Staff Field Visits Engineers, Shelter, WASH, security… SSB

SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF FIRE CONCLUSION: SOME REFLECTIONS TO TAKE FORWARD SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF FIRE PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE GROUPS – POWER & KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION & EDUCATION What next? Understanding the potential of child and women led community education ‘Bottom-up’ fire education initiatives Pedagogies of community-led fire education in informal urban contexts Barriers to learning about and for fire risk and prevention Various stakeholders: communities, NGOs, intra-govt. agencies etc. Planning of ITS Why does OF matter to researchers? Going to focus on three areas – there are more ways it matters but I am going to focus on what exploring OF can help us to understand better: The social dimensions of fire Community participation and education: barriers, opportunities, risks Development, particularly in urban contexts SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF FIRE Lack of research into the social dimensions of fire risk, prevention and education. Even less in relation to refugees and informal / urban settlements, despite an urgent need. A critical issue here is gender: women are disproportionately at risk but also much more vulnerable. Essentially, by taking a social lens, I started to look more closely at WHO is impacted by fire, in what ways, and why. It makes me question the relationships that enable, constrain, prevent particular actions, Once we started to think about gender, it highlighted an issue, for me as someone with a background in teaching and teacher education, around the the control of knowledge. Who got to decide who had access to knowledge around fire prevention, use of equipment, actions to take in the event of a fire? From our experience in Lebanon, men were the knowledge brokers – women and children remain exceptionally vulnerable, primarily because they don’t have access to knowledge. This takes us into… COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, EDUCATION and POWER The train-the-trainer programme targets NGO staff who will become master trainers who train their own teams to deliver fire prevention and risk education in refugee communities. While the Gender Children = VULNERABLE GROUPS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING IN URBAN CONTEXTS Researching community programmes around fire will help develop wider knowledge Urbanisation and urban planning Different types of inequalities FUTURE RESEARCH, THEREFORE… Future research, therefore, needs to b Related to this,