By Daniel Tyokua
The outgoing director of FCT Fire Service, Julius Opetunsin has disclosed that the department is in dire need of modern firefighting equipment.
He said the world was advancing with a speed technology and the FCT fire service needs to move with the trend.
Opetunsin stated this during his valedictory lecture tagged: ‘The impact of disaster on the infrastructural development of FCT, the role of FCT Fire service and my testimony’ at the weekend.
The outgoing director explained that the department is in need of hydraulic platform to fight fire and effect rescue in high rise buildings, procurement of modern firefighting equipment and additional fire stations to adequately cover the city centre and the Area Councils.
Other demands, according to him include aggressive awareness on fire prevention and sensitization programs and sustaining of the school safety initiative programs.
He also revealed that the service saved N3.96 billion naira worth property and lost N1.7 billion from 2017-2020.
According to him, the available statistics within 3 years show that the service attended and responded to 1,844 fires and received 136 rescue calls.
Julius explained that, “The FCT fire service statistics for 2017-2020 indicate that the service attended and responded to 1,844 fires and 136 rescue calls. Property worth N1.75 billion was lost within the same years, while N3.96 billion naira was saved”
He said presently the department has about 18 water tenders, 2 foam tenders, 7 water tankers of 10,000 litres capacity, 4 BLS ambulances, (1) 15 seater bus and 13 commando vehicles in its fleet.
