‘Cheap’ fire engine for counties

By Rushdie Oudia

Counties in western Kenya can acquire powerful and affordable fire engines for as less as Sh10 million.

The fire engine, assembled by Farm Engineering Industries Limited (FEIL), has 11,000 litre capacity water tank and 2,000 litre capacity foam tank.

The machine has a spray bar fitted at the rear of the truck and a walkway with handrails at the top of the tank.

The design engineer, Thomas Okaro, said there is a lockable box for storage of suction hoses provided on the sides of the main water tank.

Okaro said the machine can be mounted on any truck and will help the counties, which have in the past suffered from lack of enough fire engines.

 Affordable

He said a platform has been provided at the top of the water tank to rotate the gun and access ladder.

 Counties such as Homa Bay, Nyamira, Migori, Siaya and Vihiga lack the necessary equipment to fight fire.

Siaya and Busia Counties depend on the Kisumu County Council fire engine, which is located more than 170km away.

Civic authorities sspent close to Sh70 million to purchase their fire engine, a cost that is seven times more than the engine being provided by the company.

 When exported from Germany, fire engines cost Sh40 million, while those from China cost Sh16 million.