“I have come to realise how vulnerable my shack is because I have always used a faulty paraffin stove and left it unattended. Today’s lesson exposed my ignorance and opened my eyes on how heating sources, if not properly utilised, may lead to devastating consequences.”
These were the words of Mrs Rebecca Mgijima, a resident of Makause informal settlement during the Annual Pre-Winter Fires Safety Awareness Campaign launched at the Makause informal settlement in Primrose recently.
The launch, which was held under the theme ‘Be wise, Be safe and Stay Alive’, comes after the Disaster and Emergency Management Services officials and members of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) conducted door-to-door visits at the Marathon, Makuase and Dalport Informal settlements in Primrose.
The City of Ekurhuleni is host to 119 informal settlements.
This makes the campaign of supreme importance as informal settlements are more vulnerable to shack fires during the cold winter season.
“The annual fire safety campaign is aimed at improving the community’s preparedness and enhancing their resilience to crisis situations,” said the member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for Community Safety, Clr Vivian Chauke.
“The devastating fire-related incidents in informal settlements can only be prevented when people are educated about the dangers of heating sources and are equipped with the knowledge of how to handle them,” she said.
Residents were taught about the different types of fires and how gas fires cannot be extinguished with water, as one would with any other fire, because of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
Residents were further reminded not to put candles, heaters, braziers, gas stoves and paraffin stoves close to curtains or any easily flammable items.
The CERT members, who are also residents in the informal settlements, encouraged residents to always have water or sand stored in buckets so that they can effectively extinguish a fire before it spreads.
