Just in: No staff training programme on use of new aviation firefighting trucks
Fresh revelation has emerged revealing that whereas the Federal Government has spent well over N12bn to buy new airport firefighting trucks, there was no training programme for would-be users in the event of fire at the airports.
Some officials of FAAN who spoke on ground of anonymity said they were not even carried along in the purchase not to talk of informing us of any kind of training programme either home or abroad.
Aside the issue of no training scheme for FAAN staff on the application of the new trucks, the recent commissioning of ten high-capacity firefighting vehicles by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has been met with mixed reactions from the public.
While some have commended the move as a step towards improving safety and emergency response at airports across the country, others have raised concerns about the cost of the vehicles and whether they are truly necessary.
Sirika had Sunday via his official Twitter handle announced that he had just commissioned ten firefighting trucks worth N12bn.
According to him, “Just commissioned 10 Firefighting trucks, total cost of over 12Bn Naira. More to come in due course. Safety has been the Buhari focus in Aviation, since 2015. Hitherto FAAN has not bought new trucks in 15 years.”
Whereas the target of the trucks was to avoid the kind of Sosoliso Plane crash fire which killed Emir Dasuki and preacher Bimbo Odukoya at Port Harcourt International Airport many years ago, the airport was not among the first to take delivery.
Details garnered by Business Hilights showed the qualities of the trucks as follows:
First, the Lion Volkan 6×6 Brand, Major Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting Vehicles, carries 14,000 litres of water, 1,700 litres of foam, 250kg powder capacity each, and monitors the discharge rate of between 6,000 litres to 10,000 litres per minute would be deployed to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
Also, with an acceleration rate of 0-80km per hour in 30 seconds, each of the trucks possess a limitless capacity to discharge while in motion, they are also equipped with under-chassis nozzles to tackle running fuel fire.
