News / Local
Bulawayo unveils fire fighting equipment
23 May 2012 at 04:42hrs | Views
THE Bulawayo City Council on Monday unveiled two fire engines and fire fighting equipment donated by Operation Florian, bringing to eight, the number of fire engines that the local authority now owns.
The two engines and equipment are valued at more than $1 million.
The council now plans to open another fire sub-station to cater for suburbs such as Cowdray Park that are far from the existing stations.
Operation Florian, a United Kingdom fire and humanitarian organisation, donated the equipment two months ago when its crew visited Bulawayo on a three-week fire fighting course for council fire fighters.
Bulawayo City Council has a twinning relationship with the city of Aberdeen in Scotland, where Operation Florian operates from.
Speaking from the Famona Fire Station yesterday during a tour of the station by councillors, council directors and firefighters to view the equipment, chamber secretary Mrs Sikhangele Zhou said the new fire tenders and equipment would significantly improve the local authority's ability to respond to fire incidents and accidents.
She said the council was trying its best to deal with fire accidents and the new equipment would enhance efficiency.
"This means we can now respond more efficiently and quicker than what we used to do. We were trying our best and the new equipment means that there is room for improvement. Given resources we could open another fire station but for now we do not have manpower for that," said Mrs Zhou.
The council fire department reportedly responds to fire within seven to 10 minutes.
Mrs Zhou said the council was grateful to its partners, Operation Florian and the City of Aberdeen for the equipment.
"We are grateful for the donation, we appreciate it is a donation from citizens of another country and we hope they will continue assisting us," she said.
The local authority recently announced plans to establish a fire fighting and management school, which would provide training to fire fighters in the country in a bid to improve efficiency in the field.
Mr Richard Petersen, the council chief fire officer, said some of the fire engines were now old and needed to be repaired.
"We now have eight fire engines, the one you saw came in 1981, the other one in 1991 but they are still working although very old now and need to be attended to. However, eight fire tenders is enough a number for us to attend to fires," said Mr Petersen.
Operation Florian donated two fire engines this year, one last year while the other one was donated to council by the Government through the Civil Protection Unit.
Yesterday, the firefighters drove the fire engines across an open space within Famona Fire Station starting with the oldest ones to demonstrate how they react to fire.
When it was the turn for the two new engines, for a moment people thought there was real fire within the station as a fire fighting crew rushed to the other side in response to sirens from the vehicles and within a short space of time they emerged in firefighting gear and hanging onto the two vehicles as they drove at high speed.
The highest council fire engines can splash water to put out fire is 19 metres, as demonstrated by fire fighters on a tower at the station.
The new fire engines would cut on the turnout time as they were designed in such a way they can drive at a faster speed compared to the ones the council has.
The fire fighters said they would soon start fitting the equipment so that they are ready for any emergency. The engines have spotlights on their roof, mounted on a tripod and can extend in height over the vehicle.
The state of art equipment includes portable pumps for use in areas where there would be open water sources if needed to put out the fire, smoke detectors, which are fitted in premises even in houses and can report presence of fire once they detect smoke, thermal portable camera that can detect a life in the middle of a burning structure and chemical protection suit which would be used when fighting fire in premises with reactive chemicals.
The two engines and equipment are valued at more than $1 million.
The council now plans to open another fire sub-station to cater for suburbs such as Cowdray Park that are far from the existing stations.
Operation Florian, a United Kingdom fire and humanitarian organisation, donated the equipment two months ago when its crew visited Bulawayo on a three-week fire fighting course for council fire fighters.
Bulawayo City Council has a twinning relationship with the city of Aberdeen in Scotland, where Operation Florian operates from.
Speaking from the Famona Fire Station yesterday during a tour of the station by councillors, council directors and firefighters to view the equipment, chamber secretary Mrs Sikhangele Zhou said the new fire tenders and equipment would significantly improve the local authority's ability to respond to fire incidents and accidents.
She said the council was trying its best to deal with fire accidents and the new equipment would enhance efficiency.
"This means we can now respond more efficiently and quicker than what we used to do. We were trying our best and the new equipment means that there is room for improvement. Given resources we could open another fire station but for now we do not have manpower for that," said Mrs Zhou.
The council fire department reportedly responds to fire within seven to 10 minutes.
Mrs Zhou said the council was grateful to its partners, Operation Florian and the City of Aberdeen for the equipment.
The local authority recently announced plans to establish a fire fighting and management school, which would provide training to fire fighters in the country in a bid to improve efficiency in the field.
Mr Richard Petersen, the council chief fire officer, said some of the fire engines were now old and needed to be repaired.
"We now have eight fire engines, the one you saw came in 1981, the other one in 1991 but they are still working although very old now and need to be attended to. However, eight fire tenders is enough a number for us to attend to fires," said Mr Petersen.
Operation Florian donated two fire engines this year, one last year while the other one was donated to council by the Government through the Civil Protection Unit.
Yesterday, the firefighters drove the fire engines across an open space within Famona Fire Station starting with the oldest ones to demonstrate how they react to fire.
When it was the turn for the two new engines, for a moment people thought there was real fire within the station as a fire fighting crew rushed to the other side in response to sirens from the vehicles and within a short space of time they emerged in firefighting gear and hanging onto the two vehicles as they drove at high speed.
The highest council fire engines can splash water to put out fire is 19 metres, as demonstrated by fire fighters on a tower at the station.
The new fire engines would cut on the turnout time as they were designed in such a way they can drive at a faster speed compared to the ones the council has.
The fire fighters said they would soon start fitting the equipment so that they are ready for any emergency. The engines have spotlights on their roof, mounted on a tripod and can extend in height over the vehicle.
The state of art equipment includes portable pumps for use in areas where there would be open water sources if needed to put out the fire, smoke detectors, which are fitted in premises even in houses and can report presence of fire once they detect smoke, thermal portable camera that can detect a life in the middle of a burning structure and chemical protection suit which would be used when fighting fire in premises with reactive chemicals.
Source - TC
