Firefighters in Gaza Strip not only fight the fire but also the horrible consequences of the repeated Israeli assaults on Gaza in addition to the siege that results in limiting capabilities needed to meet the conditions and requirements for safety and prevention.
The Civil Defense in Gaza is a humanitarian agency that provides service to all the Palestinian citizens all over the Gaza Strip. The agency includes 18 fire stations located in five main governorates.
“The ongoing siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than 15 years has recently inflicted tragedies on the enclave the latest of which is Abu Rayya’s house fire in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip earlier in November” Civil Defense spokesman Major Mahmoud Basal told the PIC.
The agency last received a donation of one million USD from Malaysia following the Saif Al-Quds (Jerusalem’s Sword) battle last year Basal revealed adding that the donation was granted in favor of establishing a fire station in Khan Younis in addition to locally transferring five fire trucks into firefighting vehicles. He added that this donation was preceded by another smaller one by Qatar that was used to purchase vehicles and other equipment.
“Each firefighting operation requires new hoses and other tools which are not reusable” Major Basal underlined pointing out that the fire trucks in Gaza are decayed.
Civil Defense Facilities
According to spokesman Basal the agency has 18 fire stations which is not sufficient as each station provides services for at least 80000 people. “The agency has 30 fire trucks and only one tank car serving the Strip” Basal said adding that only three low-quality ladders are available for rescue operations in addition to another decayed one.
“Despite the great competence of the crews the trucks are decayed” he affirmed pointing out that all the currently available trucks need to be replaced by new ones.
The Palestinian official underlined that the poor quality of the vehicles especially the fire trucks only complicates the problems as most of the vehicles may suddenly stop at any moment which takes more than the expected time to reach the incident or extinguish the fire.
Basal asserted that providing new modern vehicles is important to insure that they reach the incident in the shortest time possible calling for establishing at least five fire stations for each governorate in order to provide proper services that meet the needs of the citizens.
He reiterated the importance of continued support by systematically providing new equipment urging in conclusion the Palestinian citizens to call the civil defense when necessary rather than trying to fight the fire by themselves.
