| Seven fire stations earmarked for Dar | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 28 January 2012 10:04 |
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The Citizen Reporter Dar es Salaam. The Dar es Salaam City Council plans to establish seven sub-fire stations, to beef up capacity for rescue operations, it has been revealed.The only fire station that the city has was built in 1953 to cater for a population of only 150 people, which has since soared to over 40 million . That, plus poor infrastructure and acute traffic jams, makes the establishment of sub-stations at more strategic points imperative. Speaking to The Citizen, this week, Chief Fire Officer, Dar es Salaam City Council’s City Fire and Rescue Services, Fikiri Salla, said the sub-stations will help reduce the time that fire-fighting trucks waste in traffic jams. He said the trucks always reached the scene of accidents between one and two hours late, by which time fire had caused extensive damage. “ Due to the problems, we have decided to establish the sub-stations in an effort to move services closer to people, and dampen complaints that fire brigade services were poor. The planned sub-stations will be at Mbezi Beach or Tegeta, Mbezi Louis along Morogoro Road, Mbagala, Tabata and Mwenge. Others have been earmarked for Gongo la Mboto and Kigamboni. He said the areas have been identified on the basis of geographical and real situation needs.According to the fire officer, there is need to strengthen rescue and fire services in the city due to several man-made and natural calamities that have befallen city residents in the past. To start with, he said a new sub-station at Mchicha area along Nyerere Road is likely to be operational anytime next month as all facilities have been put in place and a water tanker will be dispatched soon. He also explained that Dogo Dogo Centre at Bunju in the outskirts of the city had established a volunteer fire station that would serve the nearby areas by offering services from 3pm to 9pm, under the supervision of fire management officials. According to Mr Salla, the centre has imported two fire trucks from Germany with the aim of training youths at the centre to give volunteer services.Despite plans to establish more sub-stations, he decried lack of equipment as the department’s biggest challenge. He proposed that the central government should disburse money directly to the department, as the current system under which it is entirely under the charge of the city council. That, he noted, was in compliance with the Fire & Rescue Force Act 2007, but compromised the department’s efficiency.The official observed that the fire brigade lacked marine apparatus for rescue during floods of the sort that hit Dar es Salaam recently, as well as for rescue in chambers. However, he said they had limited tools for structural rescue. He also cited lack of sufficient skills as a drawback, explaining that 80 per cent of the current 126 personnel had acquired only basic training in rescue and fire fighting conducted at the Julius Nyerere International Airport. There was a critical need for establishment of a higher-level training institution, ACF Salla said, noting that periodically, some employees attended short courses in Germany, under the auspices of the Dar es Salaam-Hamburg sister city relationship. Upon their return, they imparted the knowledge they acquired to colleagues, he elaborated.He called on the government to empower the department through higher budgetary allocations; else, he pointed out, improved services would remain a dream. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
