Elizabeth Vincent, Yenagoa
Bayelsa state governor, Senator Douye Diri, has presented a state of the art 2026-model firefighting truck to the Bayelsa International airport as part of efforts to strengthen safety and emergency response operations at the facility.
Governor Diri presented the specialised fire tender to the managing director of the Bayelsa international airport, air vice Marshal Nelson Calmday (retd.), on thursday at the government house, Yenagoa.
According to the governor, the firefighting vehicle, procured from Germany, was among the best available and would significantly enhance the airport’s capacity to respond to fire emergencies.
Diri said, to those of us who are not technically inclined we would have taken this to be some kind of war equipment seeing it with the ordinary eye, you would not actually believe that it is a firefighting equipment.
“I know we have the best state of the art firefighting truck and I am confident that it will serve its purpose effectively,the governor expressed optimism that the new equipment would improve safety standards and operational efficiency at the airport.
Receiving the vehicle on behalf of the airport management, Calmday explained that the facility had been operating without an adequate water tanker for firefightinoperations,prompting management to make a request to the governor for one.
He, however, said the governor went beyond the request by providing a modern 2026 model fire tender equipped with enhanced firefighting capabilities.
Calmday disclosed that the airport previously had two fire tenders but one had become unserviceable, making the new equipment necessary to strengthen its emergency response capacity.
He explained that the new fire truck had a greater capacity for firefighting foam and water than a conventional water tanker, making it more suitable for dealing with emergencies at the airport.
Meanwhile, Calmday said the delivery of the second aircraft acquired by the state was being delayed by the procurement and installation of its main landing gear.
He said the aircraft an ATR 72-600 similar to the first aircraft already acquired by the state, would be flown from Morocco to Nigeria once the installation was completed.
According to him, the aircraft would subsequently be delivered to pioneer airlines, the airline operating the state-owned aircraft,the development is expected to further strengthen Bayelsa’s aviation infrastructure and improve the state’s air transportation capacity.
