Palmridge Fire Station faces challenges

There are a few challenges that the station have to cope with. Firstly, the water pressure to fill the fire tanks is very low. It takes about an hour to fill the water tank that is needed for emergencies. This is unacceptable as people’s lives are in danger, this need to be resolved urgently.

The other problem at the station is that there is a blocked sewerage pipe on the property and this is causing problems for the officials who work at the station and also our residents who go to the station for help.

Also the grass is overgrown in front of the station and the station needs to be cleaned. Furthermore there is a shortage of supplies in the ambulances. On Saturday a male resident fell off his bed, and when the ambulance arrived at his home they did not even have a stretcher to put this resident on, they rather carried him out in a blanket. I just hope this did not cause more damage to this person as he broke his hip.

On Saturday, January 31 a young lad was knocked down by a car, and the ambulance that arrived there did not even have sufficient supplies, not even scissors.

As a Metro we need to do more for our residents who depend on us for services. Is this the kind of service we offer our communities? This is unacceptable. Our service to our communities needs to be improved drastically.

Councillor Samantha Nair

EMM response:

The area of Palm Ridge has category one and two informal settlements still under development and the supply of water is from reservoir tank based in Palm Ridge. As a result, the interruption of the supply is indeed a serious matter. The current pressure is still within the acceptable range however, the matter has been taken into consideration.

The sewerage main hole which is inside the Fire Station premises has been unblocked, and the pipeline is actually servicing the shopping complex nearby and not affecting the fire station directly. As a result we identified some challenges concerning other main holes in the nearby vicinity and addressed them. Paving bricks were laid on top of the main hole lead totally to obstructing its visibility. That has been brought to the attention of the shopkeeper and paving bricks were removed.

The grass cutting within the Fire Station premises has a specific employee taking care of it. Cutting of the grass is conducted and taken care of on a weekly basis. That is the routine within the station.

The issue of ambulance shortage has been addressed in the past where a total of three ambulances are currently running from the station. The new fire station was brought in the area of Zonkizizwe nearby, which also brought relief to the number of ambulance calls Palm Ridge was servicing in the past. The response time has been improved as the result, and currently the station is running with three ambulances per day per shift.

The movement of the patient by blanket is a mode of patient movement as we all know from Basic Life Support System. The reasons for blanket movement are informed by the patient ambulation dynamics inside the apartments.

It is important to note that, not every house is built to accommodate a rigid stretcher. The blanket or Zip (tarpaulin) stretcher is used for manoeuvrability purposes.

It is inaccurate that there were not sufficient medical resources. While a colleague was busy with initial stabilisation, his partner was getting extra equipment from the ambulance, one piece of equipment being a pair of scissors. A bystander offered a knife as he had it readily available by then, while the crew member was busy bringing other equipment as elucidated above.

The patient was given professional pre-hospital medical care and the appropriate equipment were used on the scene.

For future reference, residents can call these numbers in cases of emergency:

* 10177 – National Toll Free Number,

* 112 – Cellphone, or

* 011 458 0911 – Life Threatening Ekurhuleni Emergency Line.