Unrelenting in her commitment to security, Mayor Beng Climaco Monday morning turned over 12 brand new fire trucks to the Zamboanga City Fire District even as she vowed to continue supporting the agency to ensure efficient and effective fire response.

The turnover of the Isuzu brand fire trucks was also in response to President Duterte’s program to modernize the Bureau of Fire Protection as outlined in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, July 22. “Zamboanga City is compliant to the president’s mandate and is one of the first cities to allocate funds to contribute to the fire modernization program.”

Bureau of Fire Protection Regional Director SSupt. Sydney Besana with ZCFD Marshal Supt. Jhufel Brañanola and other regional and district fire officials thanked the Mayor Climaco and the City Government for the never-ending assistance and support to the BFP.

Brañanola said the new additional equipment helps boost the morale of the firefighters.

Of the 12 fire trucks, 10 were taken from the 2019 budget while 2 were purchased utilizing part of the 2018 budget. The Isuzu brand fire trucks have a capacity of 3,000 liters of water each. All are 4×2 six wheeler trucks, 4-stroke water-cooled, intercooling turbocharged direct induction and are Euro 4 compliant with diesel fed engines.

Each truck is roughly P6.5M with a total acquisition cost of P78M.

The vehicles will be distributed to the different fire sub-stations but subject to deliberation of the BFP officials. At present there are fire sub-stations in Vitali, Manicahan, Sangali, Culianan, Mercedes, Labuan, Ayala, Upper Calarian, Sta. Maria, Tetuan and Lunzuran but Brañanola plans to create additional sub-stations to ensure better response to fire emergencies.

Aside from fire trucks, the Climaco administration also assists the BFP through other equipment, fuel, allowances for personnel, infrastructures and numerous others.

Joining the mayor during the turnover of the fire trucks were some members of the City Council, some department heads and other key officials of the city.

After the turnover at the City Hall grounds after the flag raising ceremony, BFP personnel showcased their response capacity through a demonstration using colored water.

From City Hall, the convoy of fire engines rolled through Climaco Avenue to the City Fire Station in Ledesma Street. (Sheila Covarrubias)