Think smart and be fire safe
Employees from the Hope Park Community centre have made it their mission to educate the residents of Munsieville about being safe when working with fire in a shack.
In light of the numerous shack fires that have recently been reported on the West Rand, Betty Nkoana, director of the Hope Park Community Centre in Munsieville decided to have a safety awareness day.
They visited various areas in Munsieville, including the Pango Camp settlement.
A family lost their two youngest children when they burnt to death after their informal dwelling caught fire in Pango Camp in May.
Read more here:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/380706/family-loses-everything-in-shack-fire/
“We are aware that some of these fires are caused by candles and we want to show the community how to be safe when using candles for light,” Betty said.
Instead of using saucers and bottles they showed the residents how to use a jar partly filled with sand.
They were told to anchor the candle in the sand, so that when it burns out, the sand will extinguish the flame. If it falls over, the sand will spill and prevent the candle from igniting something else in the shack.
When the residents want to extinguish the candle, all they have to do is replace the jar’s lid, and without oxygen the flame will die.
Another problem they have come across is small children drinking paraffin because it is stored in the wrong bottles.
“Plastic bottles like cold drink bottles are being used to store paraffin. The children then think it is cold drink and drink it,” Betty said.
They distributed stickers showing a picture of a skull, to indicate that what’s in the bottle is unsafe to drink. She also suggested that if there are no stickers available, parents can draw a skull on a piece of paper and securely tape it to the bottle.
“Once the bottle is empty,” she said, “it should be placed in a plastic bag and stored somewhere high up where children cannot reach.”
