Alarm as City fire engines grounded for lack of insurance cover

 

Nairobi City County is operating without a fire brigade after the fleet offering the essential services was grounded.

For almost a week now, the fire engines have not responded to any scene because they do not have insurance cover.

The county government has not paid an insurance company Sh135 million.

The insurer, APA Insurance, has delayed issuing the cover due to a lack of funds, officials confirmed.

Nairobi governor Anne Kananu acknowledged there was no cover for the fleet due to the delayed release of funds from the Treasury.

The county acting chief officer of finance Joseph Gathiaka asked the insurer on July 8 in a letter to urgently cover their fleet to enable them to deliver services.

“We urgently need insurance for our fleet to be able to cater for emergencies within the county since all our vehicles have grounded for the same. We commit to paying Sh135,208,417 within 14 days,” he said in the letter.

The insurance expired last week and hence the fleet cant operate.

This has exposed the county to more dangers other than fire disasters. Up to two fire incidents are reported in the city daily.

For the last week, the engines have not responded to the fire incidences reported despite them being asked to provide the key emergency services.

Officials are now relying on private fire engines and those from the military and National Youth Service to contain the infernos.

The latest incident happened at a famous club in Lavington, Nairobi where a fire burnt property on Monday night.

A section of the club was burnt down and the cause of the fire is yet to be known. There was no response from the county officials. It took the arrival of a fire engine from a private agency to contain the fire.

Another fire in Highrise burnt down several structures. Fire engines did not respond to the fire incidence.

Some residents claimed they were asked to deposit money to some of the brigades to enable them to respond to the fire.

Police say no injuries were reported in the incidents.

Another fire broke out at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation canteen on Monday morning and destroyed property with no response from the county brigade.

It took a response from the Kenya Defence Forces, police and G4S to contain the spread.

Officials from the county met Tuesday to discuss the matter as part of efforts to address the mess.

This follows pressure from various stakeholders who demanded a solution to the issue. Fire services are key to the safety of any environment.    BY THE STAR