Barriers to the compliance of fire safety among residents in Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State, Nigeria.

This study investigated the barriers to compliance with fire safety among residents in the Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Three research questions and three corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of all residents across the seven Local Government Areas in the Rivers South East Senatorial District which was estimated to be 1,720,790 individuals. A sample size of 800 residents was drawn using multi-stage sampling techniques. A Self-structured questionnaire titled “Barriers to Compliance of Fire Safety among Residents Questionnaire (BCFSRQ)” was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined using PPMCC, yielding a coefficient of 0.80. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to answer the research questions, while logistic regression was employed to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant association between knowledge of fire safety and compliance with fire safety among residents in the Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State, there is a significant association between enforcement of fire safety regulations and compliance with fire safety among residents in the Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State, There is a significant association between availability of fire safety devices and compliance with fire safety among residents in the Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State. It was concluded awareness, poor enforcement, inadequate and unavailable devices limit compliance. The study recommended among others that Residents should undergo regular fire safety education programs, organized quarterly by local government councils in collaboration with community leaders and the Fire Service by improve knowledge of fire prevention, equipment use, and emergency response.