CM hands over snorkel, 10 fire tenders to local bodies

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said he has been working hard to improve the capabilities of the fire brigades working all over the province, and that is why he is handing over one snorkel and 10 fire tenders to local bodies.

This he said on Friday while addressing a ceremony organised to hand over the snorkel and fire tenders to local bodies of various towns of the province. The programme was attended by Minister Local Government Saeed Ghani, Minister for Women Development Shehla Raza, CM’s adviser Muraza Wahab, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, Mayor Hyderabad and representatives of local bodes.

The chief minister said there was a dire need to equip all district and taluka headquarters with new fire tenders and other such equipment to improve the firefighting capabilities of the fire brigade.

“We had started this exercise during our last tenure and had ordered the purchase of one snorkel and 10 fire tenders for the local bodies of Karachi and other districts,” he said and added that he was happy to hand over the keys of the fire tenders to the local bodes’ representatives.

Shah stated that Karachi was one of the biggest and beautiful cities of the world with massive structures and multi-storey buildings, and it was in need of a snorkel for firefighting operations for high-rise buildings. “The snorkel I am handing over to the mayor Karachi is one of the highest snorkels in the world with 104 meters height for doing rescuing operations at high-rise buildings.”

The snorkel has a 600-LPM (litres per minute) fire pump capacity, a 1,000 LPM foam tank, a remote water monitor for firefighting from cage having a capacity of 3800 LPM. It has four hydraulically-powered outriggers that provide a strong stabilisation system for rescue work at a maximum height with accuracy and stability. It has also 360-degree rotation with telescopic booms.

The snorkel has been purchased for Rs495 million. The chief minister directed Local Government Saeed Ghani to visit each and every district and taluka headquarter and asses the requirement of firefighting machinery there and then prepare a scheme accordingly. “I’ll try to purchase the maximum number of fire tenders and required machinery during the current financial year and whatever is left would be purchased during the next financial year,” he said.

The chief minister also handed over 10 fire tenders to the elected representatives of local bodies, one each to Sukkur, Hyderabad, Shaeed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, Jacobabad and Qasimabad of Hyderabad, and three fire tenders to Karachi.

Each fire tender has been purchased with Rs19 million and the total cost of 10 fire tenders comes to Rs190 million. Each fie tender has a 8,000-litre water tank and a 500- litre foam tank made of polypropylene sheet having life-time warranty against corrosion protection. It has a normal and high pressure fire pump, an automatic built-in priming system, and a spacious compartment for firefighters.