Fire trucks unavailable

By Rebecca Kuku
THE two fire trucks at the Boroko Fire Station were unable to respond to a fire in the Port Moresby suburb on Friday because they were out of service, an official says.
PNG Fire Services acting Chief Fire Officer Bill Roo said one of the trucks had been in the garage for a year for repairs and they could not get it back because of lack of funding.
The second truck has “mechanical issues”.
Roo said at 5.40am on Friday, the Boroko Fire Station received a call from a resident that Papindo was on fire.
The Boroko Fire Station, because it had no trucks, relayed the call to the Port Moresby Fire Station and Waigani Fire Station.
“The Boroko Fire Station has only two fire trucks,” Roo said.
“One is still in the workshop and has been there for a year as we do not have the funds to retrieve it.
“The other one is at the station and is 25 years old.
“It has a lot of mechanical issues.”
Roo said the 25-year-old truck was used on Thursday to put out the fire at the Gutpela Kaikai fast food outlet in Boroko.
But on Friday, its pump developed problems and was not able to respond to the call.
Four businesses were burnt down and three other shops were looted in Boroko.
The fire service is yet to establish the cause of the fire at Papindo and Johnstons Pharmacy.
They were not related to the fast food outlet fire on Thursday evening.