Story by Kenias Chivuzhe
RUSAPE Town Council is the latest beneficiary of the Belarus fire tenders facility, as the Second Republic continues to capacitate local authorities’ disaster response mechanisms.
The commissioning of a fire tender in the town has brought relief to the local community which has lost properties to fire due to lack of such equipment.
“We are so excited and relieved following the delivery of a fire tender in our town. We want to thank the president as the town is now able to respond swiftly to fire outbreaks,” said a Rusape resident.
“This is evidence that our President is working and as the business community, this makes us feel safe and secure,” added another.
“In Rusape, the number of fire incidents has been increasing. A lot of important buildings were gutted by fire this year,” added another resident.
“Statistics show that at least 6 houses and three business buildings and industries including the Max Village complex were gutted down by fire this year alone. We expect the council to ensure the fire tenders have fuel and water all the time to urgently respond to fire outbreaks,” explained yet another resident.
The local authority noted that the gesture will capacitate the fire department to timeously respond to any fire outbreaks in Rusape and surrounding areas.
Rusape Town Secretary Solomon Gabaza said, “On behalf of the Rusape community and our neighbours we are grateful to the government for procuring this important equipment for us. This equipment will go a long way in alleviating civil protection challenges such as fires and accidents along the roads. I want to thank President Mnangagwa for assisting us with this piece of equipment through our parent ministry of local government. We have got well-trained people, and the tender has a capacity of 5 000 litres of water.”
Makoni District Development Coordinator, Mr Edwin Mashindi is also appreciative of the latest development.
“We are grateful as Makoni district for the equipment that has been given to the town. Before the handover of this fire tender, we had an obsolete one which had challenges with spare parts and many times we had to resort to medieval ways of attending to fire.
“Considering that Rusape is a transit town to various tourist destinations and a route to Mozambique’s port of Beira, there is a lot of traffic resulting in high number of road accidents we need to respond to. We were outsourcing fire tenders from Mutare and Marondera and this slowed the reaction time. The tender will improve the fire incident reaction time,” he said.
The Belarus fire tenders facility is testimony to the government’s drive to transform and enhance local authorities’ disaster preparedness.