The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that all airports in the country have adequate fire cover in line with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
It said this was in response to the doubt in some quarters about the adequacy of fire cover at the airports, following a recent fire incident at the Kaduna airport control tower.
A statement by FAAN on Tuesday explained that contrary to the reports, the entire Kaduna airport’s control tower was not razed by fire as alleged but only the cabin of the control tower was affected.
It added that it was the quick intervention of the airport’s firemen that prevented the control tower from being razed down completely.
The statement said, “Every airport in the country including the Kaduna airport, now has adequate fire cover in line with the recommendations of ICAO. This includes the prescribed number of fire tenders, firemen and related safety facilities.
“The Kaduna airport has Category 7 fire cover status and meets all the ICAO’s requirements to operate under that category, including manpower, fire tenders and requisite fire equipment.”
According to the statement, between 2012 and 2013, the number of serviceable fire hydrant systems at the airports was increased from two to seven, with work in progress at 11 more hydrant systems, while all the airports have received additional modern fire tenders.
“New firemen have also been recruited, trained and redeployed to airports, according to their manpower needs,” it stated.
This, it stressed, “is aside from the retraining of all firemen, both locally and abroad, to sharpen their firefighting skills, in line with current international standards and practices.”
