Labella asks where aerial truck ladder is

CEBU City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella asked the General Service Office (GSO) on the whereabouts of the aerial truck ladder acquired by the city government back in 2000.
Labella sent a letter yesterday morning to Ronaldo Malacora, the officer-in-charge of GSO, attached with the photos of the firetrucks donated by Iki town in Japan at no cost to Cebu City.

Labella said he can remember that the aerial ladder truck was turned over to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

But he said he will wait for Malacora’s official response to his letter before asking the BFP.

“What I’m afraid of is that after it was turned over to the BFP, it was assigned somewhere else,” he said.

Labella also showed reporters an old album containing photos of their visit to Iki Island in Japan during the turnover last June 21, 2000.

Labella said the aerial truck ladder and the tanker were not used in a fire by the municipality of Iki and was only used for trainings.

The Cebu City government purchased a P57 million aerial ladder truck this year that can be used for rescue operations in buildings that were 18 storeys high.

After reading about the purchase in the papers, Labella said he recalled about the older equipment acquired by the city which already has an accompanying water tanker enabling it to immediately respond to fires in high-rise buildings.

The new one purchased by the city from a Korean supplier doesn’t have a water tanker yet and is only useful for rescue operations in tall buildings and not actual firefighting.