New fire engines still unused three months after purchase

In June, MaltaToday revealed that the Civil Protection Department had bought three fire engines from England to replace some of the old fire engines that aren’t fit for the road. Three months later, these fire engines are still in the Civil Protection’s garage in Hal Far.

Some of Malta’s current fire engines are so faulty that they are unlikely to pass a Vehicle Roadworthiness Test (VRT) to be used on the road, let alone to be driven at high velocity in the case of an emergency.

Sources told Sunday newspaper Illum that the situation in the Gozo station is so bad that workers there have actually removed parts from one fire engine and placed them onto another one, so that the second fire engine could pass a VRT test.

Some sources said that the new fire engines remain unused because of a conflict among high-ranking officials about the colour of these fire engines., with the new fire engines being orange and not red.

Separate sources said that some maintenance still needs to be carried out on the fire engines before they can be rendered presentable to the public.

Read the full feature story in Sunday’s edition of Illum