Economy

KPC plans new fire detectors in Nairobi, Mombasa

kpc

Kenya Pipeline workers wash away spilt jet fuel at a depot in Nairobi. The oil storage firm will install new fire alarm and detection systems in Embakasi and Moi Airport depots. PHOTO | FILE

The Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) will fit its depots in Embakasi and Moi International Airport, Mombasa, with new fire alarm and detection systems following recent accidents and safety scares.

The oil storage firm said the existing safety systems at the depots need to be replaced with modern ones that can cope with increasing safety concerns.

“The fire alarm system shall incorporate an aspirating smoke detection system to reliably detect fire at the earliest opportunity, and at low to high concentrations of smoke within control panels located in the switch room, control room and server room,” KPC said as it began a search for firms to supply and install the equipment.

The Embakasi depot is set to be fitted with about 55 detectors while the Moi Airport facility would get 66 detectors.

The new system, KPC said, would detect and report fire through both audio and visual notification, as well as activating fire suppressors.

Oil spills and related fire outbreaks have become a major safety concern around fuel depots across the country. On Tuesday oil marketers suffered a major safety scare following an oil spill that saw several depots in Nairobi’s Industrial Area evacuated.

READ: Safety scare after Nairobi Industrial Area oil spillage

The spillage was detected at around 9.30am after pressure built on drainage systems in the area, blowing off several concrete manhole covers.

The incident triggered an alarm, leading to the evacuation of staff and loaders at depots including those run by Vivo Energy Kenya and the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock).

The KPC said the Tuesday incident followed oil spill near the Nairobi Joint Depot (NJD) along Nanyuki Road, that is owned by Kenol Kobil and Total Kenya.

“The oil marketing companies have formed a committee to investigate the incident” KPC spokesman Jason Nyantino told Business Daily.

Nobody was injured in the Tuesday incident that saw fire engines and safety teams inject special foam into the affected manholes to prevent an outbreak and spread of fire.

The upgrade of fire alarm and detection systems at the Embakasi depot would come handy for the KPC, which is still grappling with a court case following an incident on September 12, 2011 in which more than 100 people died in a fire in Nairobi’s Sinai slum following a leak from a section of its pipeline.

Besides installing new fire alarm and detection systems in Embakasi and Moi Airport depots, the KPC plans to automate drainage systems at its seven depots across the country as it seeks to curb accidents and pollution caused by spillage of products.

The KPC said in 2015 the project will involve the installation of special spillage control equipment at its pump stations at Kipevu, Nairobi, Moi International Airport, Embakassi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu.

“The objectives of this project are to contain any spillage occurring within our facility into the storm drain system and recover it safely, determine contents of storm drain system before allowing controlled drainage from our facilities to municipalities’ common drainage system and avoid environmental pollution and accidents,” the firm said in a brief on the project without providing its cost.