Ministry of Home Affairs Website

Brief History

1.0 Historical Perspective of Fire Fighting in Tanzania

1.1 History shows that scientific fire fighting and life saving in Tanzania began in Zanzibar in early 1930.

1.2 On the mainland it was after the World War II in 1945 that a regularised fire fighting system was put in place. In both places, the activities of this body were placed under the Police Force

2.0 Fire Fighting & Life Saving Sector after Independence

Having recognised the importance of fire fighting and life saving activities, the Government resolved to continue to have a department for this service after independence. One of the developments that took place immediately after independence was the placement of the fire fighting and rescue unit at airports under the Ministry of Works, Communications and Transport in 1961. However, the activities of Fire fighting and Rescue services continued to work without being governed by a specific law until the Government conducted a study and recognised the various shortfalls in 1970's. The following were the outcome of the study:

i) There was no main governing body that supervised the activities of fire and rescue services in the country. This meant that it was unclear as to whom the department was answerable to and no one was directly responsible to fight for the cause of the firemen and women in the country as a whole.

ii) Fire fighting service at airports that was being run by the Ministry of Works, Communication and Transport was not up to standard in terms of equipment and workers welfare, was uncertain. iii) Ministry of Works, Communication and Transport did not have clear strategic plans for the development of fire fighting service at airports.

iV) Discipline among the fire fighters was not up to standard as their working principles were civilian based as opposed to those guiding uniformed officers. After these findings fire-fighting department was established under the Ministry of Home Affairs in1982 with the following responsibilities:

i) To formulate policies, supervise, investigate, and monitor all fire and rescue service activities of all fire brigades in the country.

ii) To carry out research and training in all fire fighting and related fields and ensure the coordination of the international aspects of such research and training including; international standards/ practices and recommendations.

iii) To facilitate and strengthen the capacity of the Fire fighting and rescue stations.

3.0 The Service Institutional Set up Development

3.1 In the United Republic of Tanzania, Fire and Rescue Service is not a union matter as Zanzibar has her own Fire and Rescue System. Therefore, reference to the service in this policy document relates to mainland Tanzania

3.2 In 1982, the business of fire fighting and rescue were transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Still, other groups continued to work under other authorities such as the Harbour Authorities, Local Government, Parastatals and Private Institutions.

3.3 Act No.3 of 1985 established a fire and rescue brigade and made those who were in the fire fighting and rescue units at airports to form the fire fighting and rescue force under the Commissioner of Fire.

3.4 In 1996 the Government decided to return the activities of fire and rescue unit at airports under the Ministry of Communications and Transport while the policy aspect among other issues was retained at the Ministry of Home Affairs