Plans are in place to deal with lack of fire engines

The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) Fleet Management Department is busy approving new maintenance and repair contracts to restore several fire engines that have been out of service for a lengthy time.

This comes after the DA in Ekurhuleni released a statement on September 6, claiming that over 70% of the CoE fire engines are non-operational.

The Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) spokesperson, William Ntladi, said the non-operational fire engines have various mechanical faults.

“However, the Fleet Management Department is engaging with workshops to speed up the repairs of those already in workshops to bring them back to their operational standards.

“Those with minor mechanical faults should be back earlier than expected,” he said, adding they have kept some out of service because of third-party claims from being involved in accidents.

“Such matters are beyond the CoE’s control. Currently, the CoE has an average of one fire engine per fire station.

That means the CoE has 30 fully functioning fire stations,” explained Ntladi.

He added that DEMS has an operational plan to combat fire incidences.

“We have divided the emergency services into three regions comprising nine districts. Each district has an average of three fire stations. With responses, the size of the incidents dictates the number of resources needed on the scene. It can be fleets from the district, region or a single station,” said Ntladi.

Part of the plan is that district stations respond together, depending on the size and magnitude of the incident.
“Lack of resources brings serious implications to societal needs, hence we have remedial strategies in place to sustain service delivery,” he concluded.

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