Five local levels of Banke without a fire engine

NEPALGUNJ (Banke): Five of the eight local levels do not have a fire engine to help douse an incident of fire that takes place within their respective local level.

Only three local levels in the district—Nepalgunj Sub-municipal corporation, Kohalpur Municipality and Narainapur Rural Municipality have fire engines.

Nepalgunj has three fire engines while Kohalpur and Narainapur have one each. Similarly, Nepalgunj Airport has two fire engines and Nepal Oil Corporation Ranjha has one fire engine.

Meanwhile, the District Administration Office has stated that the District Disaster Management Committee has decided to request the local levels of the district to keep the fire engines, including drivers, fuel and water ready. All fire engines in Banke will be kept on standby for 24-hour operation.

Chief District Officer Dharmaraj Joshi said fire engines have been kept on standby for 24-hour operation, with special attention to the management of fire engine human resources.

The meeting of the District Disaster Management Committee, Banke, also decided to conduct various activities to control the fire and wildfire incidents considering their risk with the onset of the dry season.