Early on Thursday, January 15, 2026, a fire broke out in the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital’s (EFSTH) paediatric unit. There were no recorded casualties.
With the assistance of emergency personnel, hospital personnel moved quickly to control the fire and stop it from spreading. Since then, authorities have started looking into what caused the event.
Speaking to reporters, Hon. Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, the Minister of Health, praised the Fire and Rescue Service’s and hospital staff’s quick response, which made sure the situation was swiftly under control.
”Babies were evacuated to safety where they continue to receive their treatment, and the team did what they could before the arrival of the fire service. Fire service teams came from the State House, equally speaking from the headquarters, to help us put out the fire”, he said.
The minister called the response “exemplary” and commended the hospital staff’s combined efforts.
“We thank the hospital team remarkably, from the cleaners, the oddlies, to the security men, to the nurses, the doctors, the entire team, everybody was around and all hands on deck, and so the patients are all stable and safe, they are on the other wards, and we are moving them to the newly renovated wards”, he emphasized.
Hon. Babucarr O. Joof, the Minister of Defense, also spoke to the media and apologized to everyone impacted by the tragedy. He thanked the security services, especially the Fire and Rescue Service, and the medical staff for their quick response.
“In terms of security for the country, we will ensure that at the level of the security council, adequate information is shared”, he said.
Abubakarr Suleiman Jeng, the National Security Adviser (NSA), also told journalists that the event was a safety concern rather than a security one and that the cause of the fire would be found through an inquiry.
“Let’s not consider this incident as a security issue”, he said. “It is purely a safety issue, and I can also assure you that the government has done everything as it relates to ensuring that capacity is also built around responding to incidents that are safety related”.
He said that although the cause of the incident is yet unknown, it will become clearer when the incident and Rescue Service does a comprehensive assessment.
“We want to indicate that at this point, we are unable to tell you specifically what has happened”, he said. “We can insinuate, but unless the fire and rescue services conduct an assessment after this incident, we will be in a position to confidently and competently indicate what must have been because of the fire. Now, when an assessment is also done of such nature, it tends to bring out the causative effects”.
