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Mrs Zhou said at present the city was operating with eight ambulances, 17 short of the ideal 25, which attended to a total of 2 196 calls last month.
She said Bulawayo had six instead of eight fire tenders, two out of four required water carriers, three instead of five command vehicles one of each instead of three foam tenders, hydraulic platforms and emergency tenders.
Mrs Zhou said the department needed a staff complement of 320 people to operate effectively, but had 203.
“The economic downturn witnessed recently saw council closing down two of its four fire and ambulance stations, namely North End and Nkulumane. The aged fleet of emergency vehicles continued to break down. The situation was further compounded by understaffing. All those challenges manifested themselves in delayed responses to emergencies,” said Mrs Zhou.
She said council has been forced to “cannibalise” off-the-run vehicles to get others operational.
Said Mrs Zhou: “Most, if not all the vehicles we are using were acquired in 1992 and constantly break down.
“The coming in of Operation Florian saw us receiving a donation of a water tender and fire and rescue equipment in 2011 all valued at $700 000. It is pleasing to note that Operation Florian have trained and will continue to train fire and ambulance services personnel in areas such a incident management, community and technical fire safety, breathing apparatus, pump operation procedures and first aid, among other training programmes.”
Speaking at the same occasion, Bulawayo’s Mayor Councillor Thaba Moyo thanked Operation Florian for the donation.
“This will undoubtedly go a long way in improving the responsiveness and efficiency of emergency services in Zimbabwe. I also note that the mission to Bulawayo, which has entered its second phase, has further strengthened and revived our sister city relationship with the City of Aberdeen in Scotland,” said Clr Moyo.
In an interview after the event, Operation Florian team leader, Mr Tony Burscough said the donations made Bulawayo the best equipped local authority in the country.
“We are delighted to be part of this exciting partnership with Bulawayo. Although more needs to be done, in terms of equipment, Bulawayo now sets the standard for other local authorities in the country. We look forward to exchanging ideas and working together in Phase Three of the partnership, where we expect to make more donations,” said Mr Burscough.
Online Reporter