County poorly prepared to handle fire outbreaks, Isiolo residents say

Isiolo residents have railed the county government over what they say is inadequate capacity to handle increasing cases of fire outbreaks that have seen properties worth millions of shillings destroyed.

While asking Governor Mohamed Kuti’s administration to invest heavily in firefighting equipment and personnel, residents said the previous losses incurred could have been prevented if the county had enough fire engines.

The locals want Governor Kuti to speed up the process of acquiring another fire engine which he recently promised.

“The destruction of properties worth millions of shillings in the past one week could not have occurred if the county had the capacity to respond effectively to fire outbreaks,” said Mr Hassan Wario, a resident Kiwanjani.

Recently, Dr Kuti said plans are underway to buy an extra fire engine to deal with the growing cases of fires in the county.

“We are in the process of purchasing another fire engine to deal with the fires and help protect people’s property,” Dr Kuti told the Nation.

The county has been relying on one fire engine to handle infernos reported across the vast region that covers 25,336 square kilometres and with a population of over 260,000 people.

Four fires in a week

At least four fires have been reported in the last one week with the most recent one being at Isiolo town’s St Joseph Polytechnic which was said to have been caused by an electric fault. The fire destroyed carpentry machines and raw materials worth Sh5 million.

The fire fighters are ill-prepared to fight infernos and most of them lack breathing apparatuses among other protective equipment.

The engine’s low water carrying capacity has on several occasions seen the fighters chased away over failure to put out fires.

“We are very impressed with the fire team’s response today. They came in time unlike previous times,” said Mr Simon Mathenge concerning the polytechnic’s fire.