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{
    "id": 1451300,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1451300/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ogola",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Due to the activities that they are involved in; a number of times, there are fire outbreaks. You will find pathetic situations where members of the public have to fetching water in order to put off the fire. If a fire station is far away from a town or a municipality, by the time the authorities assemble the fire engines and go, a lot of property and sometimes life is already lost. So, this Bill is timely. I can see there is a mention of standards that must be met. The fact that urban centres must be within some established physical plans will also help to reduce effects of fire. So, in talking about fire, we must also talk about the physical planning of our towns. The planning authorities, which are the county governments, must ensure that in planning our towns, aspects of access are taken care of because that also brings up a big challenge when there is a fire outbreak. Sometimes there are no proper access roads to residential areas in urban centres due to poor planning. Sometimes when there is a fire outbreak, even though a fire engine might be procured to go and rescue the situation, when there are no roads, then that is another disaster. Most of properties are burnt down and people lose their lives because fire services are not able to reach them. I still want to talk about my town Ndhiwa. That is a major problem. The municipality must deal with the issue of planning and opening up of access roads within the municipality. If that is not done even if there is a fire outbreak and we are able to procure a fire engine, it will be very difficult to reach our people wherever they are living because of lack of access. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I pray that the Mover of this Bill considers counselling services as an aspect to include in this Bill. We have often seen situations where fire breaks out and there is massive loss of property, lives and livelihood. People are so affected soon after that. So, counselling may not be directly linked, but I pray that this is brought as a component of the kind of services that should be offered by the county governments in the provision of fire services. I say this because back in my own town, we lost one great lady, Mama Lucy, amongst others. A number have broken down and sold those plots after their property was burnt down because they were not insured. They have probably lost all their earnings yet they have children going to schools and families to take care of. When they lose all this property, it is always too demanding on them and a number of them go down psychologically. That is why I say that the Mover needs to find a way in which we can also bring in the issue of counselling services. Regarding the issue of fire and rescue services, we must also think about the issue of compensation. A number of these people have lost their property. Some of them are businesses where loans were taken either from banks or other means. Once their businesses are destroyed, it becomes so demanding on these people. The county government can either incorporate in other sectors the issue of educating the members on insuring their businesses. The issue of compensation of loss of property should also be considered. I say this because sometimes a property may burn due to an electrical fault. For that matter, the business can be compensated by the Kenya Power. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}