CAAP belies claims on Davao Airport's inability to respond to emergency

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on Monday belied the concerns raised by Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño that Davao International Airport did not have any fire truck and inadequate firefighting capability.

Impressive prop. This fire truck looks ready to go, but aviation officials say many of them will not even start.
Link from manilastandardtoday

In a statement, CAAP also branded Casiño's concerns as "untrue and mere hogwash based on old and outdated 2010 report."

"There is likewise no truth to the report that Davao International Airport’s firefighter capability is inadequate. They have ample protected gears to respond to runway emergencies. CAAP has budgeted P26.46 million to acquire protected clothing for our airport firefighters," it added.

Quoting the 2012 data, CAAP said five fire trucks at Davao International Airport are operational with a total capacity of 15,700 liters equivalent to Category 7, enough to quickly respond to an A320 aircraft emergency. Two others are undergoing repair or maintenance, CAAP said.

CAAP said it has allocated P544 million for the acquisition of 11 more fire trucks for deployment in various airports nationwide, including the Davao International Airport.

"As in similar acquisitions, we are carefully reviewing the specifications of each vehicle. We want to use the taxpayers’ money conscientiously by comparing the existing market price of each vehicle to the proposed CAAP cost. The current market price of a fire truck is around P50 million, but further on-line search shows the price of each fire truck is within the P25 to P30 million only," it added.

"There is no truth that NAIA is borrowing fire trucks from Parañaque government to respond to any emergency," CAAP said. - Dennis Carcamo

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