News
CBD hydrants don’t work
Posted Wednesday, January 28 2009 at 22:08
Most of the fire hydrants in the city centre do not work and firefighters putting out the inferno that engulfed Nakumatt Downtown on Wednesday had to get water from Nyayo Stadium — about three kilometres away.
Although firefighters from the Nairobi City Council were the first on the scene, their trucks ran out of water barely half an hour after their arrival.
According to G4S fire services manager Clive Lee, a city by-law also prohibits private fire fighting companies from drawing water from the hydrants under the Nairobi City Council.
“The hydrants haven’t worked for the last 20 years,” said Mr Lee. Vehicles parked near the building had to be lifted out of the way for the trucks to gain access. Surging crowds gathered at the scene made things even more difficult.
The fire trucks also had to contend with a huge traffic jam on Uhuru Highway.
Raise matter
Nairobi mayor Geoffrey Majiwa said that the matter would be raised at the next board meeting of the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company.
However, the firefighters, who had brought down part of the wall at the back of the building so as to fight the fire better, had to retreat when they discovered that three unexploded gas cylinders were still in the burning building.
-
Submitted by naliweliwaloPosted January 29, 2009 01:03 PM
-
Submitted by musembij
Must we have disasters to realize the poor state of our emergency response capacity? and now the city council will raise the issue of dry hydrants in the "next meeting". Is this disaster not enough to warrant an emergency meeting? is disaster preparedness part of the far off 2030 dream?
Posted January 29, 2009 07:40 AM -
Submitted by tmmukulis
To those affected poleni sana.Am sure the firemen do not fight fire everyday.Preventive mantenance should been done regularly to confirm everything works.Insurers will be scared to insure unsafe properties due to negligent of our city fathers.To big supermakets reconsider selling gas cylinders inside overcrowded halls
Posted January 29, 2009 01:56 AM -
Submitted by wuod_aketch
Welcome to Africa, the land of corruption, short sightedness and incompetence. What do the fire-fighters do when there are not putting off fires? That fire hydrants in the city do not work is sheer incompetence. Nairobi with those high rise buildings should be declared dangerous and unfit for public occupation. Ati we have vision for 2030. Let us solve the little problems like these in 2009. No rocket science is needed nor are hundreds of employees to verify regularly and assure that security equipment functioning. Imagine a fire in hotels like Hilton, Intercontinental ... I cannot imagine the carnage
Posted January 29, 2009 01:34 AM
RSS
let us stop planting all these flowers and fancy sidewalk renovations, and fix the fire hydrant issue first! Why should the fire trucks be stuck in a jam? Where are the police with their brand new cars to clear the way? Were the trucks getting water from the Nyayo stadium pool? What if the pool was empty?