Nairobi city county will boost its emergency response in Eastlands upon completion of Kangundo Road fire station.
The contractor is putting final touches on the facility whose construction started in April last year. Private structures were demolished to pave way for the station.
County disaster management and coordination chief officer Ann Mwenda on Monday said the station will soon be launched after all works are complete .
"The buildings are complete. We are just dong some final touches before we officially open it. Once complete, the station will have fully equipped fire engines, ambulances, boreholes and other facilities," she said.
The chief officer said the new fire station will have more than 10 engines to boost its performance.
Kangundo Road and Waithaka fire stations are county projects funded by the World Bank.
The fire station project will be a plus to Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's government as it will be the first built since the country gained independence in 1963.
Nairobi has only two fire stations,one at Koja on Tom Mboya street built in 1907 and another at Industrial Area built in 1957.
With a population of more than four million, the stations are inadequate.
Mwenda said the county is in the process of recruiting more fire fighters to serve the stations.
"We are aiming at recruiting 1,200 staff inclusive of fire fighters and city inspectorate. Currently, the fire department is has less than 150 fire fighters and we want to increase their numbers," she said.
At the moment Nairobi has only 120 trained firefighters, with 11 set to retire at the end of the year and 13 in 2020.
In October 2017, Somati Vehicles NV, a Belgium- based company, donated 26 fire engines to the county government.
The upgrading of Kangundo Road to a dual carriageway will boost access to the fire station .
"With the upgrading of Outering Rod and now Kangundo Road, the fire engines will have no challenges of traffic to and fro the station," Mwenda said .
Governor Mike Sonko has said he has plans to build a fire station in the each of the 17 subcounties.
