Union defends two suspended fire fighters
Kenya National Fire Brigade Association is fighting against the suspension of two fire officers at the Nairobi County for alleged negligence concerning last week’s Kariobangi fire breakout.
Secretary general Francis Omolo Liech said County Hall should not have suspended the two since the matter was beyond them.
“There is only one operating fire engine and on that day, it was at the garage. The officers followed all the necessary procedures,” he said.
He argued that suspending the officers was a way of covering up mistakes of County Hall, while using the officers as a scapegoat.
Mr Oliech said operating with one fire engine has been a great challenge which makes it difficult for the fire fighters to manage emergencies.
“The brigade we have is expected to serve all emergencies across the city, right now there are five broken down engines lying in the garage, yet the authorities do not want to release money for repairs,” he said.
The two officers were suspended on January 27 over alleged failure to dispatch fire engines on the January 25 when fire broke out at Kariobangi.
Mr Liech added that the County Government should not take such serious action concerning matters they had been unable to tackle.
“County Hall should provide adequate resources to this department,” he said.
He further said that the fire department had been facing the problem of inadequate personnel.
“Nairobi has only two fire stations, one in town and another in Industrial Area with only 100 fire fighters, using one fire engine, how do we deliver without resources and the relevant equipment,” he posed.
He said Senator Mike Sonko should not condemn the fire fighters.