Fire trucks run out of water during shack fire

Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson Nana Radebe said firefighters arrived at the scene at about 9.20am and tried to put out the overwhelming fire. Some residents were trying to help the EMS contain the fire using water buckets  after water in the engine trucks ran out,Roodepoort Record reported.

Speaking to The Citizen, Radebe said two fire engine trucks were on the scene with about 3 000 litres of water, which ran out after about 7 minutes.

“Normally, 3 000 litters of waters inside the fire engine truck ran out after about five to seven minutes. So, the area does not have hydrants to replenish water inside the engine fire trucks, hence the trucks ran out of water,” she added.

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In a video of the incident, firefighters are seen removing the rubble from the scene.The cause of the fire remains unknown.

On Sunday, at least 25 houses and a guesthouse in the Vaal burned to the ground, but firefighters say they could have saved some of the properties if they had adequate equipment.

Vanderbijlpark residents watched helplessly as their properties went up in flames. The damage caused was estimated to be about R100 million.

“The fire department took forever to get there, and when they got there, their water lasted briefly, and they did not have equipment to refill the truck.” said a resident who witnessed the fire.

One firefighter said they took more than 30 minutes to respond because they did not have enough water and they had to wait for the fire engine when they received the call for help.

“We cannot even speak out about what we experience on duty openly, EMS never leaves space for us to say what we don’t have,” he said.

The firefighter said stations in the Vaal struggle to attend to calls timeously because of the shortage of fire engines and sometimes water pumps.

– Caxton News Service