Distinguished guests H.E.Deputy Governor, County Commissioner, Security Commanders, Honourable Members of the County Assembly present, Chairman & Mucipality Board Members, County Executive Committee Members, County Chief Officers, Elders, Fire brigade team and the people of Mandera.
Asalam Aleykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are proud that today we celebrate a milestone in our journey of resilience and transformation as we continue institutionalizing devolution in our county.
This iconic fire station we are launching today is important to the people of Mandera because it is the first fire station in Northern Kenya since independence and will go a long way in supporting public safety against fire disasters and rapid response protection for valuable property.
At the advent of devolution, if there was a fire outbreak in Mandera town, we had one small poorly serviced vehicle to respond. Residents would watch desperately as their property goes up in flames. We are proud today that we have an effective response team whose results we have already seen in recent days.
In the short stint we have been operational, the fire brigade has managed to contain several fire our breaks effectively. The team was able to respond to a fire incident at Moi Girls secondary school at night when students were in session. They successfully put out the fire, saved the property with minimal risks to our daughters.
Let us congratulate the team for a job well done. At Kamor Primary school they contained a field fire and at Koromey farms they have contained several wild bush fires. In summary in 2018 we had 13 fire incidents, in 2019 we recorded 29 fire outbreaks and in 2020 there have been a total of 155 cases, so far.
The team consists of 28 trained fire fighters among them seasoned well experienced officers. They have managed to rescue the life of a child who fell in a pit latrine and also recovered a donkey that fell inside a pit latrine.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have dedicated training facilities within the station, bearing in mind that the best emergency response teams train vigorously and continually. The team carries out paramilitary drills to keep fire crew fit and healthy for firefighting assignments.
The Fire station sits on two acres of land and is equipped with an underground tank with a capacity of 100,000 litres of water always filled up ready to serve the residence of Mandera Municipality. We also have an elevated tank with capacity of 50,000 litres for facilitation of gravity feed for the fire engines.
The building is designed in such a way that the fire engines are able to move out in a few seconds on to the main roads and respond swiftly without obstruction. For the avoidance of doubts all our emergency services are free of charge.
We have provided a proper resting area with beds for the fire crew while on duty at night so that the station is manned 24 hours a day in three shifts of 8 hours each.
At this fire station we have also created an ambiance as part of our climate change mitigation by planting trees and maintaining a green lawn to give it a fresh look.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In Mandera we have critical installations including the airport and a fast growing urban area that all require emergency fire rescue teams ready. We remain committed to building their capacity and investing on the expansion of this service through the county.
We will be constructing a fire station in Elwak Municipality very soon as we roll out a fire emergency response capacity to all sub counties.
We are looking at sponsoring youthful people who want to build a career in emergency rescue operation and God willing we will train them while bench marking with the best fire brigades in the region as we foster collaboration throughout the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) region and the entire Kenyan nation.
With new smarter buildings coming up in Mandera town including major investments in institutions like Mandera County headquarters, County hotel, Mandera Medical Training College, Mandera County Referral Hospital, markets, the Teachers College, our schools and Mosques, it is important that we have an effective fighting brigade on standby for any emergencies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
An effective fire fighting strategy needs community buy in. I hereby instruct the Ministry of Roads and Public works to ensure that all building plans come with fire detection equipment as a preventive measure for fire disasters. On the same note I hereby direct the Ministry of Public works to ensure all county government buildings are fitted with fire detection equipment going forward.
Finally we encourage home and business owners to invest in fire detection equipment in their properties.
This safety policy should apply to all public and private buildings including our hospitals, schools, markets, mosques must be equipped with basic fire fighting equipment to compliment our safety efforts.
I now formally launch the Mandera Fire brigade Station to serve the people.
Thank You and May God bless you All
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