Too little, too late

There is at least one fire hydrant that works in Phnom Penh. I have seen four or five of them in the city but they are very few and far between–and there’s no assumption that they work. Because they are almost non- existent, reports in the newspaper of fires indicate how many fire trucks were involved. It doesn’t refer to how many individual trucks responded to a blaze but rather how many trips the trucks made to a fire hydrant or other water source. I saw in the newspaper yesterday that they made 35 trips to get water for a fire. Given the horrendous traffic congestion here, you can imagine how efficient the fire fighting is.