TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has revived plans to build fire stations in Waterford and Cowdray Park in a bid to help reduce loss of lives and property,it has been learnt.
BCC initially announced the plans to build the fire stations in 2015.
But, the plans were abandoned in 2017 due to lack of funds.
The revival of plans was disclosed by BCC chamber secretary, Sikhangele Zhou, who this week spoke at a handover ceremony of four renovated kitchens and new furniture at Bulawayo Fire Station in Famona by Monarch , a unit of Treger Group.
Zhou, however, implored residents to pay their rates for the city council to achieve that.
“The eastern areas are serviced from Famona yet some of them are very far from the station. Areas like Waterford are still very far yet the international standards response time is supposed to be within 10 minutes of receiving a distress call,” Zhou said.
She added: “ (Another) example is that Nketa Fire Station in Mpopoma high density suburb could not respond to a distress call from Cowdray Park high density suburb within the stipulated 10 minutes. With the economy of the city and everyone paying rates with everyone contributing money we might build another fire station towards Cowdray Park and another towards Waterford. So that we can respond timeously, “she said.
She applauded the Monarch for the gesture.
“ We assure the Monarch that we do take care of whatever is given us. I can assure you that it will increase the morale of our firefighters who have to spend eight hours here.”
Bulawayo Mayor Solomon Mguni bemoaned vandalism of fire hydrants in communities. He said this was making it difficult for fire fighters.
“ Bulawayo is making a call on all members of the public to help them (firefighters) curb unnecessary loss of life and damage to property during emergencies .Another concern we have is vandalism of fire hydrants in communities, which makes it difficult for the fire services and emergency teams to carry out their job in case of fire. These lead to the loss of lives and property, and we need to be cognisant of the impact of our actions, “he said.
The fire department has also been hit by a shortage of workers. It has a deficit of 76 workers while the ambulance division has a 65 employee deficit, according to BCC.
There is also a serious shortage of fire ambulances. BCC only has five vehicles, a situation which has compromised the city council’s ability to respond timeously to emergencies.
Treger Group marketing director Sithokozile Ndlovu said :” We, said as a company, let us look after their (firefighters) welfare. We said the best way was to renovate their kitchens and provide new furniture.
