KARACHI, May 9: The city government has planned to purchase a new snorkel for the fire brigade department by the next month and five more by the end of this year. This was stated by an official of the fire brigade department. He said that the city government would purchase the snorkel and additional equipment costing Rs650 million.

Twelve fire engines and the only snorkel, which were out-of-order for the past two months, had been sent to workshop for repairs, he said adding that all out-of-order fire tenders including snorkel would be on road forthwith.

Sources said that only 30 fire engines out of a total fleet 50 were functional, which were not sufficient to handle large fires especially as the snorkel had also been out-of-order for the last one year.

There are hundreds of high-rise buildings in the city. Most have no adequate fire-safety or exists. The majority is without fire fighting alarms and other necessities. The sole snorkel purchased 18 years ago has completed its life. The department concerned has the necessity to use it to extinguish fires in high-rise buildings. However, when snorkel is not operational, fire fighters face serious difficulties in controlling the fire in highrises.

The fire-fighting department needs to be rehabilitated. The old fire engines require time consuming and costly repairs.—Online