The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said it has procured a super metro elephant equipment with towing and lifting capacity to aid swift emergency response.
LASEMA General Manager, Mr Tiamiyu Adeshina, said in a statement on Friday in Lagos that the equipment brought the number of light and heavy duty equipment procured by the agency to 50 in the last three years.
Adeshina said that the new equipment could move at a higher pace than the regular crane.
According to him, the super metro will also not encounter the difficulty of moving around the state, especially some areas that cannot accommodate the crane because of its huge size.
“Apart from towing, this Super Metro Elephant also has a lifting capacity. It combines what a Crane and Goliath does.
“This implies that we don’t have to inconvenient other road users when responding to emergency situations.
“Instead of occupying the entire road with the crane, we can now deploy this new equipment to manage the incident without necessarily occupying the entire stretch of the road,’’ he said.
The LASEMA boss said that the Super Metro Elephant could work from the rear, the left and the right sides, and could pick objects from the three positions, especially fallen tankers and articulated vehicles.
“The Super Metro doesn’t work from the back alone, it works and auxillates to 270 degrees.
“It has a retracted boom capacity of nine tonnes that can tow and drag out any trapped vehicle or articulated truck to a safer place,’’ he said.
According to him, the state government has arrangement in place for regular maintenance and replacement of parts for all its vehicles and other equipment.
He said that good maintenance culture had kept the fleets of vehicles within the disposal of the agency working since the last two years without any major breakdown.
Tiamiyu said that plans were in place to procure more emergency response equipment to serve some LASEMA centres that were presently under construction in different parts of the state.
He said that the huge resources being committed to emergency response by Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration was a pointer to the vision of achieving a safer and a more secured Lagos for everyone to live, work and invest.
“This new Super Metro in addition to the light duty vehicles, search and rescue equipment earlier procured this year would greatly assist in managing emergency situations in the state,’’ the general manager said.
Recalls that the state government in February procured some light duty equipment.
The equipment which included Hydraulic Rescue Equipment, Power Unit attached with Spreader, Rescue Ram, Cutters, Combi Tools, Concrete Cutters, among others, were distributed to all LASEMA Response Units across the state.
