Apr 26 , 2019
By TEMESGEN MULUGETA ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )
The city's Fire Department is procuring 24 differently sized fire fighting vehicles for 161 million Br paid directly from the City Administration's budget.
Ten of them are large fire fighting vehicles, while the rest are small fire trucks that can easily access congested and narrow streets. So far, the Addis Abeba Fire Emergency Prevention & Rescue Agency has received five of the large fire fighting vehicles and is expected to receive the remaining equipment in a month's time.
The vehicles are imported from Europe and are equipped with the latest features. The handover ceremony is expected to be attended by Deputy Mayor Takele Uma.
The new trucks will be additions to the existing 40 fire fighting trucks, four machines, six water tanker trucks and 33 ambulances that are owned by the Agency, which has eight branches in the city: Piassa, Qera, Mesalemia, Saris, Aqaqi Qality, Bole, Kolfe and Gulele. Each branch operates two fire fighting trucks.
The Agency, which was established in 1934, is building the ninth branch around the Summit area. Reports say only water and electric power installations are left for construction. The new branch is expected to be inaugurated on the same day as the handover of the vehicles.
In the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, a total of 423 accidents were registered by the Agency in the capital and special zones of the Oromia Regional State. Addis Abeba took the lion's share of the total accident list, accounting for 70pc. These accidents caused 62 deaths and damaged 221 million Br worth of property.
Out of the total number, 299 are fire accidents, while the remaining are other types of emergency accidents. During these emergencies, the Agency has deployed 751 pieces of machinery, 349 ambulances, 42 pickup trucks, 5,638 firefighters and protected property valued at 2.9 billion Br.
Early last year, the Authority, which operates with 1,350 employees, procured 20 fire trucks at a cost of 133 million Br. It also acquired an excavator, six command cars and fire-retardant foam chemicals for 16 million Br. The delivery of these trucks was delayed due to a foreign exchange crunch in the country.
Anteneh Tref, who has ten years of experience in safety as a senior marine engineer, believes that the Agency has to give priority to training its staff.
"The procurement of the fire fighting vehicles alone can't make the Agency efficient," Anteneh said. "It has to be accompanied with extensive training of the staff."
In fact, the addition of the vehicles will strengthen the capacity of the Agency, but it also needs to increase the capacity and operational efficiency of their staff, Anteneh concluded.
PUBLISHED ON
Apr 26,2019 [ VOL
20 , NO
991]
Radar | Aug 03,2019
Radar | Dec 07,2019
Radar | Nov 02,2019
Life Matters | Jun 10,2023
Radar | Nov 16,2019
Radar | May 26,2021
Radar | Jun 15,2019
Fortune News | Jan 21,2023
View From Arada | Nov 14,2020
View From Arada | Feb 20,2021
Feb 24 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Abel Yeshitila, a real estate developer with a 12-year track record, finds himself unable to sell homes in his latest venture. Despite slash...
Feb 10 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
In his last week's address to Parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) painted a picture of an economy...
Jan 7 , 2024
In the realm of international finance and diplomacy, few cities hold the distinction that Addis Abeba doe...
Sep 30 , 2023 . By AKSAH ITALO
On a chilly morning outside Ke'Geberew Market, Yeshi Chane, a 35-year-old mother cradling her seven-month-old baby, stands amidst the throng...
May 2 , 2024
For successive generations of Ethiopia's tax authorities, the chore of tax collection...
Apr 27 , 2024
The Prosperity Party (PP) - Prosperitians - is charting a course through treacherous...
Apr 20 , 2024
In a departure from its traditionally opaque practices, the National Bank of Ethiopia...
Apr 13 , 2024
In the hushed corridors of the legislative house on Lorenzo Te'azaz Road (Arat Kilo)...