New, Hungarian-made fire engines were handed over for fire fighters of nine counties by Minister Pintér in Budapest.

At the event, held in front of the Mogyoródi road building of the National Directorate General for Disaster Management (OKF) Minister Pintér handed over the keys of the vehicles and said: the government’s goal is to replace all the old bulk water carriers, which are not safe enough due to their age, with new, Hungarian-made vehicles by the end of 2017. The vehicles were developed and produced by the National Directorate General for Disaster Management.

The Minister of Interior emphasized: fire fighters, previously controlled by the local government, were transferred under state regulation and financing in January as fire safety cannot be the question of local governments’ financial state, and all towns need to have the same technical conditions.

Lieutenant General György Bakondi, director-general said: by the end of October 3.7 billion forints were spent on maintenance and reparation of current vehicles, which amount is ten times more than expected.

In the renovation programme, 17 vehicles were renovated, 14 bought and 9 new fire engines were handed over. The vehicles, worth 760 million forints are capable of carrying 7 thousand litres of water and were developed by state-owned BM Heros Zrt.

Nine cities: Nyíregyháza, Hódmezővásárhely, Szigetvár, Kecskemét, Eger, Szeghalom, Gödöllő, Salgótarján and Kazincbarcika received new fire engines. Attila Lipták, Head of Disaster Management in Borsod County said: these 9 vehicles mean quicker help for 311 towns and 900 thousand people.

(MTI; Ministry of Interior)