Madang receives fire truck

FIRE hydrants and trucks are part of development taking place in major towns, says chief fire officer Bill Roo.
Roo said this when handing over a China-Aid fire engine (truck) to the Madang administration and the province’s fire commander yesterday.
Roo said having fire hydrants spaced at 100m intervals in the construction of buildings was crucial in order for the Fire Department to effectively do its job.
He said the records of the number of fire hydrants in Port Moresby were kept with Eda Ranu while Water PNG kept records of outside provinces.
He said even though the national Fire Department was the user of the fire hydrants but did not keep records.
Meanwhile, the Madang government pledged K22,200 for the shipment of their fire truck allocated to them this week.
National extended functions coordinator Babob Gatedai said although the funding was late in arriving, he was glad Madang Fire Station would have a fire truck.
“Madang is developing at this stage, receiving of this new fire engine will boost the operations and more business developers will come in,” Gatedai said.
Roo said all provincial governments were keen to be allocated fire trucks.
He said Kokopo (East New Britain) and Alotau (Milne Bay) were still in the process of acquiring their fire trucks but with limited vehicles with the National Fire Department other provinces who had made requests.