Germiston Fire Station hosts safety awareness event
“We continue as well with fire awareness and training. We want to spread the safety message.”
The Gauteng PIER Working Group hosted a Fire Safety Month event at the Germiston Fire Station with stakeholders from other municipalities.
Among the attendees were members of the Emfuleni and Tshwane fire departments.
Community members in attendance were taught about fire safety, how to use the bucket brigade and how to safely use gas and paraffin stoves.
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Aaron Mafunda, chairperson of the Gauteng PIER Working Group and Ekurhuleni district manager, said every second week of October is International Fire Safety Week and as a province they wanted to support each other and extend the week to a month.
“Some of the topics we cover are water safety. In summer we look at water safety – thunderstorms, swimming pool safety and because of changing weather we look at flooding and heatwaves.“In between we cover the dos and don’ts of LPG gas and paraffin stove safety for informal settlements.”
Mafunda said the department wants to be proactive rather than reactive.
“We also gave attendees fire safety buckets and we demonstrated to them how to use the bucket brigade system.
“Residents need to have both sand and a bucket of water in the household. In case there is a fire, they will use sand as they await the fire department truck to put out the flammable liquid flames. Otherwise they can use water to prevent the fire from spreading.
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“We continue as well with fire awareness and training. We want to spread the safety message. We call it Gauteng Safety Month. In Ekurhuleni we are doing the Summer Awareness Campaign, every Wednesday and Saturday until next year, we are doing awareness.”
