A look at fighting fire capacity in Tshwane

Swift response to fire incidents remained paramount to saving lives as fires could cause damage to livelihoods and result in tragic deaths.

This was the sentiment of Tshwane emergency services spokesperson Charles Mabaso.

Mabaso said the Tshwane region had about 79 fire incidents in the past two weeks, which resulted in two people losing their lives and several homes and business buildings damaged.

He said 12 of these were shack fires at informal settlements, six were house fires and one was an industrial manufacturing building which was left seriously damaged.

On Tuesday, firefighters responded to a house fire in Waterkloof, in which six rooms of the house were engulfed in flames.

Mabaso said the department received a call just before 10:00, and managed to contain the fire from spreading to the ground floor of the double-storey house of about 11 rooms.

“Firefighters deployed hose lines to fight the blaze on the top floor of the house. The roof had already collapsed upon arrival.

“Two of the fires that erupted at informal settlements saw two people losing their lives earlier this month. One was in Sekapaneng informal settlement in Hammanskraal and another was in Joe Slovo informal settlement in Cullinan.”

Mabaso said most fires in the region broke out at informal settlements.

There are five fire stations townships: Atteridgeville, Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane, Soshanguve and Ekangala.

“It is extremely important to have the fire stations as a resource of saving lives in townships as most fires erupt there.

“It is also extremely important to mitigate the risk of the damage that can be caused by these and we will continue building these areas to ensure assistance would be at close proximity,” Mabaso said.
The recent fires damaged several dwellings in Silverton, Eersterust, Erasmuskloof, Kameeldrift, Lotus Gardens and Mabopane.

An office at the South African Revenue Services in Brooklyn also caught fire on Monday morning, but the fire was contained by the department before spreading to the rest of the building.

An electrical transformer manufacturing factory in the west of Pretoria was not so lucky as it was severely damaged after a fire broke out on Sunday, 6 March.

Mabaso said common causes of fires in the region were electrical faults and open heat sources such as candles and heaters.

While the region saw several fires ranging from vehicle fires, electrical, industrial and house fires, Mabaso warned that the fire season had not yet started.

He said the region experiences most fires between April and August.

“The areas in the north of Tshwane are prone to fire in formal and informal settlements, industrial and rural areas.”

Regarding the capacity to respond to life-threatening conditions posed by fires, Mabaso said the metro had adequate resources to deal with this.

“The department has about 84 fire fighting vehicle resources: 42 fire engines, five truck/ladder companies, 11 water tanker trucks and 26 bush/grass fire units.”

However, about half of these vehicles were out of service as of Thursday, for repairs.

“Currently, 23 fire engines, two truck/ladders, seven water tankers and 15 bush/grass units are being repaired.”

Mabaso said this would not have a negative impact on the metro’s capacity to fight fires.

He said each of the 19 fire stations had resources to respond to fires.

The metro has about 410 firefighters in the fire and rescue operations division.

However, Mabaso said the region still needed about 253 more.

LISTEN tips on what to do when a fire breaks out: https://tinyurl.com/j4kw68

You can report a fire or life-threatening emergency on 107 or alternatively call 012-358-6300/6400.

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