The civil defense authorities in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, on Monday, received a fire engine from the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority Headquarters in Juba.
The fire truck will fight fires within Wau Municipality Council and its environs.
Speaking during the ceremony to hand over the vehicle, Wau Airport Civil Aviation Authority Director Paul Guy welcomed the arrival of the truck.
“The civil aviation department is very happy and on behalf of my colleagues at the civil aviation department, we thank the source that organized and sent us the vehicle which is in good condition,” he said. “We really care about it because we were facing a lot of challenges.”
Meanwhile, Wau Mayor Dasio William Taban thanked the National Civil Aviation Authority for the truck and promised to maintain it.
“On behalf of the municipality, we really thank the director of civil aviation and pledge to handle all services required by the truck, including fuel and spare parts,” he stated. “The services required by the truck will be managed by the municipality directly.”
Taban said the municipality will now be able to fight fires in the residential areas and called on the residents to report any fires and dangers to the office of the civil defense for action. He added that the municipality will introduce a new emergency call channel.
“It is good that the municipality has a director for civil defense, so, we will introduce an emergency call number so that if there is a fire outbreak in any residential area, the civilians will call that number for our easy intervention,” said Taban.
State minister for local government law enforcement agencies Robert Kornelo also welcomed the gift from the national government.
“We thank the Civil Aviation Authority and Department of Civil Defense for working hand in hand with the national government and successfully getting this achievement (truck) in front of us today,” he said. “The civilians must cooperate so that this vehicle is not grounded and put stones.”
Wau town has not been able to effectively manage fire outbreaks since the independence of South Sudan in July 2011.