Lack of fire engines a hot topic
There are incidents where there will be fire and the fire engine will take time to attend because of the shortage of them.
WHEN the MMC for Public Safety, Clr Michael Sun, announced that the City of Johannesburg had purchased 28 new state-of-the-art fire engines for R189-million in March last year, many residents were happy because for a long time they have struggled when there were fires.
It seems there is still a lack of fire engines especially in the South of Johannesburg. There are incidents when there is a fire and the fire engine will take time to attend because there is a shortage of them.
Gareth Dorrington, member of the CPF patroller (Moffat View Sector 1) and member of the ward committee responsible for infrastructure, recently wrote a letter to Clr Sun about at least five incidents when there were fires in the South and a lot of damage was caused. There was even loss of life because the only fire engines available are from Kibler Park.
In the letter, Gareth said, “Do we not have a fire engine available as we are perceived to be a less affluent area? I was present at each and every single one of those fires and assisted where I could as I am a member of our ward committee as well as a CPF patroller. We have a housing development with 5 000 units being built in South Hills. Surely this should also be a major factor in having a fire engine as well as competent staff being made available to us. On behalf of the community of the South I appeal to you strongly to ensure that we have fire engines.”
MMC for public safety, Michael Sun, responded to Gareth’s letter:
We note the seriousness of the challenge we are facing with the shortage of the fire engines – this situation has been left for too long and we must deal with it.
I regret to inform you (as announced by the Executive Mayor), the previously concluded supply agreement of the fire engines had to be cancelled as the City discovered illegalities and problems, and the supplier has also since been placed in business rescue.
Despite this, we continue to strive to resolve this problem. We are expecting the process of procuring fire engines to re-commence.
When the COURIER asked the office of the MMC for public safety about this matter, they issued a statement saying: “The City of Johannesburg is currently working with the supplier to procure three fire engines. The supplier is busy finalising its delivery processes and we expect delivery in the next few weeks.”
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