The Director-General of the Liberia Fire Service Agency (LFSA) Col. Alex K. Dixon says the agency lacks fire trucks to fight fires and save lives and properties.
Speaking recently at the Ministry of Information’s regular press briefing on Capitol Hill in Monrovia, Col. Dixon disclosed that he met two fire trucks at the entity which is not enough to carry out functions for the entire country.
He says one of the trucks is assigned in the populated county of Montserrado, something which, according to him, poses a serious problem to addressing fire outbreaks incident in other parts of the country.
The fire chief noted that apart from the lack of fire trucks to immediately handle fire cases, lack of ambulances are also constraints faced by the LFSA.
He disclosed that Liberia has 12 fire service centers with only two fire trucks operating.
“We have only one ambulance in the country, but the engine is not functional. It was President Weah who provided two engines that we are currently working with. As you can see, I broke my hand as a result of angry crowd attack last night only because we arrived late on the scene of the incident where two persons left in a fire disaster. It is all because we lack logistics. Our National Legislature needs to add up our budget from US$1.5 million to US$4 million dollars”, he requests.
The 54th Legislature is currently conducting hearings on the 2018/2019 Draft National Budget. The budget which is to the tune of US$562.2 was submitted last month by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Heads of various ministries and agencies are appearing based on schedule, to defend their respective budgets. The Liberia Fire Service Agency is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Justice that controls various national security agencies here, including the police.
