The Federal Fire Service (FFS), on Monday, commissioned 10 fire fighting trucks worth N1.88bn to enable men of the service to meet the growing challenge of fire outbreak across the country.
The minister of interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who was present at the commissioning said the arrival of the trucks would further consolidate and boost the growing challenge of fire outbreak in the sector and meet emergencies.
He noted that the agency responded to 2,615 fire calls and saved 754 lives and property worth one billion six hundred and twenty-six trillion naira across the country between June to October 2019
“The deployment of the newly procured fire engines across the country, it would boost emergency response time.
Aregbesola said: “The FFS is now in all states of the federation and is most responsive in saving lives and preventing humanitarian and economic disasters.
“The years 2019 and 2020 witnessed frightening fires ranging from market to gas and pipeline fires around the country, therefore, these trucks and their deployments to various zones would ensure a drop in incessant fire outbreaks in the country.”
The Comptroller General of the Federal Fire Service, Dr Liman Ibrahim said the 10 fire trucks are some of the new modern states of the art fighting trucks and are part of twenty-one trucks approved by the federal executive council in 2018.
“It may interest you to know that the cost of these ten trucks is one billion, eight hundred and eighty-eight million naira and these trucks will enable us to further reduce emergency response time,” Liman stated.
The 10 trucks are to be deployed to seven states; Nasarawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Oyo, Edo, Bayelsa and Anambra states. More are expected to be bought as funds are made available.
Meanwhile, the FFS has established six additional zonal commands in Bauchi, Makurdi, Kubwa, Abeokuta, Kano and Enugu to reduce response time bringing the total number of commands to twelve across Nigeria with each having a communication centre.
Also, six new fire training schools have been established in Katsina, Kwara, Osun, Abia, Borno and Cross Rivers states to cater for human and capital development needs of the service locally.
