All National Fire Authority (NFA) stations Fiji wide are currently conducting fire hydrant checks within their respective area of operation.
To-date NFA firefighters have inspected 1167 fire hydrants and have come across a number of cases where underground fire hydrants are covered with rubbish.
In some cases, firefighters have reported that parts of the underground fire hydrant are missing.
NFA chief executive officer John O’Connor is requesting members of the public not to pile rubbish on top of underground fire hydrants because rubbish accumulations affect firefighting.
“It is very important for firefighters to access these fire hydrants in case of fire and any delay caused by clearing rubbish to access the fire hydrants will severely affect firefighting,” Mr O’Connor said.
Mr O’Connor is urging community members to look after fire hydrants in their area properly. These hydrants are marked by white post near the road side.
“NFA always targets to provide the best level of service to our people, but we need their assistance in such cases,” Mr O’Connor said.
“Fire hydrants are located around the country to assist the firefighters to fight fires effectively and if the fire hydrant is tempered with rubbish and other forms of wastes piled on it, then it makes our job very difficult. Locating the fire hydrant clearing it, affects our firefighting capabilities as we have to source water from other static water sources when the fire hydrants are not working because of such actions by some members of the community.”
Mr O’Connor said in such cases firefighters have no option but to look for the next nearest hydrant or sometimes travel to large distances away from the fire scene to refill water in trucks.
“Our plea to all the members of the public is to take good care of the fire hydrant and its surroundings which will enable our firefighters to carry out their duty successfully during a fire,” he said.
NFA and WAF in a joint project are currently installing new fire hydrants in identified high risk areas around towns and cities.
“We thank members of the community who having been making submissions in relation to the installation of fire hydrants in their respective areas,” Mr O’Connor said.
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