Harare City Council will tomorrow receive two Volvo fire engines from the Lobel family which is now based in New York, in a development that is set to ease the firefighting crisis that has become a cause for concern in Harare.
The crisis has been blamed for loss of lives and property from fire owing to lack of equipment in Fire Department to respond adequately.
The department has been accused of responding late to a fire alert in the inferno that claimed the life of Retired Army General Solomon Mujuru at his Beatrice farm in August. Fire tenders from Harare are said to have taken hours to get to the scene.
The Lobel family, known for its popular Lobels bread brand, have stepped in with two Volvo fire engines to ease the problem.
Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said Peter Lobel, a descendant of the Lobel family, made the offer. The vehicles had arrived in the country from Namibia where they were transported to by sea from New York.
“Peter Lobel and friends went to Namibia to receive the two fire tenders as they were offloaded on November 27.
They spent the 28th clearing and drove them along the Trans-Kalahari Highway, Namibia, Botswana, and arrived in Bulawayo yesterday,” he said.
Masunda expressed gratitude for the popular breadmakers’ magnanimity.
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“He (Peter Lobel) came to me and said he wanted to help with ‘jaws of life’ which is equipment used to open wrecks when there is an accident.
Firemen use this to retrieve bodies from wrecks and he promised a fire engine and one fire engine ended up being two,” Masunda said.
