Kiambu County residents have continued to air their dwindling trust on the ability of the county government to respond to disasters and its scanty equipment to counter disasters as they emerge.
Following Tuesday’s inferno that gutted down a section of Optimum Lubricants Company Limited situated at the centre of Kikuyu town, those residents have now raised concern over readiness of the concerned departments to avert and manage any disaster as it emerges.
It took more than an hour to put out the fire thanks to Nairobi County fire engines, G4S and National Youth Service that came to the aid of the panicky fire fighters.
It has emerged that the main fire station serving the entire Kiambu County is headquartered in Thika, which is at the periphery of the county. By the time the fire engines arrived at the scene, the fire had been put out completely and residents have therefore urged the county Governor William Kabogo to centralise such facilities for immediate response to disaster.
“The county government has shown poor response to such emergency issues and general laxity. We are afraid to imagine what would have happened if other fire fighters never came to our rescue,” lamented Teresa Wairimu, who owns a shop in a building adjacent to the factory.
Speaking to the acting Kikuyu sub-county administrator Patrick Muro on the citizenry concerns on Wednesday, he confirmed that the county has bought some equipment, but they are not enough to serve the whole county with estimated population of 2 million people.
“We have set aside some funds to procure more firefighting equipment for the Kikuyu sub-county though we have a challenge in inadequate finances,” said Muro adding that they are also facing the challenge of distance since that main Fire Station is in Thika town.