Nairobi County Government will train 400 new fire-fighters and construct four new stations as part of its strategy to revamp the Disaster and Emergency department.

Governor Johnson Sakaja says the county is putting in place long-term measures that will help deal with fire outbreaks that have been affecting the county for the longest time.

“You never spend two days without hearing that a fire incident has been recorded in Nairobi. Our response team has been trying; however, we need to revamp it more and that’s why we are now training more officers,” he said at the weekend. Disaster and Emergency Management chief officer Bram Simiyu said they will deploy 437 firefighters.

 These include 300 firefighters and 137 administrative staff inclusive of drivers and messengers among others. Move to construct four new fire stations will also act as a relief to city residents who have been relying on Koja Fire Station for the last 116 years.

Nairobians have always been forced to source private firefighting companies in case of emergencies.

 The new fire stations in Waithaka, Kang’undo, Ruaraka and Gigiri were built at roughly Sh1 billion.

At least 437 firefighters are undergoing training at Kangundo Road to upscale them.  The cohort is the first of a group of 300 firemen and women earmarked for training as part of the department’s strategy to beef up its skilled manpower.

 Training consists of rescue, fire and disaster management drills.  Nairobi currently has only 480 fire fighters.  Simiyu said that the county conducted a needs assessment, and came up with a criterion on how fire fighters will be distributed across the five fire stations.

Headquarters (Koja Station) will get 130 fire fighters, Kangundo road (80), Ruaraka (65), Waithaka (72) and Enterprise road (90).

 Gigiri fire station at the moment will not get any fire fighters as the county is currently furnishing the station.

 Giving an update on the fire engines, Simiyu revealed that Nairobi has a total of 16 operational fire engines

 Koja station has six, Kangundo Road (two), Ruaraka (one), Waithaka (one) and Enterprise road fire station (four).  “Fire engines are distributed in all the stations. However, it depends on the availability of firefighters and type of engines required for outpost stations and the emergency work involved,” he said.