Makueni county fire and rescue brigade has been feted top nationally beating other Counties, parastatals among other entities.
The team under the Directorate of Special Programmes and Emergency services braised stiff competition from 22 counties and big organizations such as Kenya Airports Authority, and G4S, among others to emerge top while Isiolo ranked second and Kenya Airport Authority third respectively.
The concluded Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) competition was held at Kenya airport Authority Training School, Nairobi.
The county also produced the best Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Erick Muli, a paramedic based in Matiliku Sub County Hospital.
Muli beat 10 other EMT paramedics for institutions such as Red Cross, Avenue Health rescue, Komarock modern hospital, Mary hill, and Bristol Park among others.
The symposium themed, “Towards growing effective and efficient emergency rescue and response teams 2022” covered fire service leadership, community fire safety, tactical firefighting, emergency medical service, and fire engine operation where the Makueni team thrived in showcasing their prowess.
The symposium attracted over 300 fire emergency and rescue practitioners, the Kenya Council of Emergency Medical Technicians, the Chief fire mission, and other partners.
The competition was organized in partnership between the Africa Fire Mission, Polish Center for International Aid, Kenya Medical Care Technician (KMCT), and Kenya National Fire Brigade Association (KENFIBA).
According to the County Chief Fire Officer Urbanus Kioko Kyalo, Makueni has had intensive training by the Polish Center for International Aid on fire emergency rescue through an MOU signed between the organization and Makueni in 2020.
Through the MOU, the Polish Center for International Aid has donated state-of-the-art firefighting equipment, a road traffic accident vehicle as well as the establishment of a fire fighting station at Makindu along Mombasa Nairobi highway.
Mr. Kyalo noted that the Makueni fire and rescue brigade was awarded a trophy, a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitating Monitor to aid in emergency medical services, two complete sets of trauma bags, and cash prizes.
“In the past 4 years we have been able to respond and attend to 198 fire incidents and also road traffic accidents mostly along the Mombasa Nairobi highway involving vehicles ferrying petroleum products,” said Mr. Kyalo.
The team has also rescued a number of newborn babies thrown into deep pit latrines.
The team had time with the Governor during a firefighting drill within the County headquarters with the Governor maintaining that the team needed more resources to enable them to respond to various disasters.
“This is a commendable job done by our team, we must enhance our disaster response preparedness to avoid loss of lives and property,” he said.
