By MASOUD AHMADI

A late night house fire broke out in a Herat city last week. Neighbors rallied to the help of the homeowner, Imamuddin, who yelled for help as he poured buckets of water over some flames.  

"My life is lost, my family is gone," he yelled. "Friend, help me save my children."

Almost half an hour after the fire started, firefighters and trucks showed up and took part in the effort to battle the flames, but it was too late. By the end of it, Imamuddin's house was a heap of ashes.

Imamuddin managed to save his family members with the help of neighbors. He lamented the lack of assistance from the fire department, but neighbors say firefighters managed to extinguish the fire before it spread to their homes.

It's not the first time that residents have criticized the fire department. Most residents who've dealt with a fire situation at home or place of work say the fire department is ill-equipped and slow to respond.

"I have come across this type of situation many times," said resident Abdul Manan, who witnessed the fire. "Often time firefighters get to the scene too late."

Abdul Manan said he believes that a lack of equipment is one of the main reasons the department can't extinguish fires rapidly.

"Even with the little equipment they have, they could respond more quickly," he added.

According to Abdul Manan, in some cases fire trucks are unable to put out small fires because of lack of water pressure, or because fire hoses are too short.

Fire department officials acknowledged that the fire trucks are old and that they can't always extinguish large fires.

"We do our best to help the people of Herat on time with the little equipment that we have access to," said fire department chief Abdul Rahim Akbari.

Akbari says his department has been battling large fires in the city for the last few years.

"Our trucks leave their stations within four seconds after we receive reports of a fire," he added. "I don't think it is possible to act more quickly."

He rejected the allegations that the fire department responds too slowly.  

"The fact is that residents inform us when it's too late,” he said. "Pepole try to extinguish fires themselves first and when they're unsuccessful they call us, which makes our job more difficult."

Based on statistics released by the Herat Fire Department, around 192 fire-related incidents occurred in Hert in the past year. The department claims that 94 percent of those fires were extinguished successfully.

According to Akbari, there have been 67 fire-related incidents this year to date that combined caused damage in excess of 10 million afghanis.

"Based on our assessment we could've prevented human losses and 400 millions AFS in damage," Akbari said.

Herat officials report that they have done their best to to equip the fire department with more personnel and modern equipment, but budget constraints prevent further expansions.