By Jack Lapauve Jr – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Simbu Province will soon establish a new fire service office in Kundiawa town. Simbu Governor, Michael Dua, says this is important as the town expands and with fires becoming an issue throughout the country. This follows a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Simbu Provincial Government and the Fire Service.
During the signing ceremony held at the PNG Fire Service headquarters in Port Moresby, Chief Fire Officer, Bill Roo, thanked the Simbu Governor and representatives from the Simbu Provincial Government for taking a bold initiative to approach the fire service, to establish a fire station in the province.
Mr Roo said the signing signifies that the Simbu Governor is serious about building a fire station in Kundiawa and that the Fire Service is honoured to be part of the new development in the province. Roo also said that there has been growth in the building industry within cities and towns throughout the country that needs to be seriously regulated to comply with fire safety guidelines.
He said PNG Fire Service is also inviting stakeholders including provincial governments to step in and assist with sharing costs and other resources to support the function and operations of the fire service in the provinces, which can be initiated through such joint effort through instruments of such MoU’s.
Simbu Governor, Michael Dua said Kundiawa has experienced one or two fire incidents that destroyed several shops costing thousands of kina worth of damages and having a fire station would help minimise the risk of such fires in the future.
“The signing of the MoU is eventuating at a right time when Simbu has seen many recent building and infrastructure development, and business investment creating a need for fire protection and other emergency response service in the province,” Governor Dua said.
The PNG Fire Service currently has 14 fire stations around the country with the need to see an expansion of more fire stations in other parts of the country and Simbu Province is the first to benefit from such MoU’s.
