Five employees of the fire department in Embu County have been interdicted for failing to respond to a fire incident that took place on Wednesday in Majengo Estate within Embu Town that left eight families homeless.
Those interdicted include the Director for Disaster and Emergency Services and the firemen who were on duty on the material day pending investigations on their alleged misconduct according to Governor Cecily Mbarire.
Mbarire apologized to the victims over the blatant failure of the entire fire team to appear at the scene less than three kilometers from their station despite having a full operational engine.
“It is regrettable that it took the intervention of the neighbouring Kirinyaga County Government to send us a fire engine to put out the fire,” she said, adding that they never even bothered to go and support the team.
She ordered to be furnished with a report of the status of all the fire engines, saying the conduct of the department amounted to sabotage and promised to get to the root of the problem and take appropriate action.
Kirimari Ward MCA Ibrahim Swale who had pursuant to the incident called for dismissal of all line department officers who failed to act, thanked the governor for the prompt action.
He said that should serve as a wake-up call and warning to other public servants that such acts of irresponsibility and dereliction of duty would not be tolerated.
Swale also called for investigation to be instituted to establish how the Ksh 4 million that the county assembly allocated for servicing of fire engines in the supplementary budget approved two months ago was utilized.
Reporting by KNA
