The city of Ekurhuleni has recently, according to a story and photographs in the Brakpan Herald, added 48 brand new vehicles to its existing fleet of 30 ambulances (Response times will improve now, August 16).
Wonderful news as more patients will get attended to with their emergencies.
I do not know how many vehicles or telephones there are at the local fire department, but was frantically seeking assistance on Friday, August 16, and to our horror, not one of the following numbers we dialled were answered: 082 9111, 011 458-9017/8, 011 458-0911 or even 011 999-5286!
We needed some advice of a certain nature to help us in finding a telephone number to contact, as we were in a panic about an incident at our premises.
How anyone gets hold of an ambulance or fire truck in an emergency goes beyond my comprehension.
It seems so sad that in this modern world of technology that keeps going forward and getting better and better that there is not a department, not even for electricity or water where a phone gets answered!
Does no one care? Are they to busy?
William Ntladi, spokesperson for the metro’s Emergency Services has commented:
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services operates in conjunction with three Emergency Dispatching Centres.
They are at Springs, Alberton and Kempton Park. All the incoming calls are being received from our main call taking centre based at Bedfordview.
They cover both life-threatening and non-life-threatening calls. Calls are forwarded to the appropriate dispatching centre to be attended to accordingly.
The community needs to be aware of the fact that emergency calls are not received directly at the fire stations, but at the emergency call taking centre, then ambulances, metro police and fire vehicles are dispatched by the relevant dispatching centre, after the capturing of information by the call taking centre.
Ekurhuleni only uses the following emergency telephone numbers: 10177, 011 458-0911 and 112 (calls are received by cellular telephone providers and re-routed to the appropriate emergency call centre).
The 10177 number will always link with the nearest emergency services call centre throughout the country, depending on the geographical area.
Alternatively, one can use the 112 number on the cellphone, which it is also a toll-free number.
One has to follow the voice instruction to be able to get to the type of service in needed such as the fire brigade, ambulance, traffic and police.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services Life Threatening Direct Emergency Number is as follows: 011 458-0911, however, it is not a toll-free number, but a paid line.
The call taking centre consists of 12 permanent staff members assigned to deal with all life-threatening emergencies at any given time.
The other call takers are assigned for non-life threatening emergency calls also at any given time.
The centre is operational for 24-hours per day, seven days a week.
The number 011 999-5286 is the Public Information Education Relations’ number, not a call centre number. Community members in need of information and education on fire-related emergencies are encouraged to contact the office during office hours for assistance.
Ekurhuleni has just spent around R4-million to upgrade both the Emergency Call Taking Centre and the Services Call Taking Centre.
A new telephone system is about to be installed, and an additional 50 agents per shift will soon be appointed to take calls.
This will greatly improve the speed of answering calls, as the call volumes at the call centres has increased, and often more calls come into the centre than there are agents to deal with the calls.
The community is requested to bare with us as we have no control of when and how many calls will come into the centre at any given time.
