Fire department denies slow response time
Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services refute the claims of Joan Botha and Alta Myburg, who weren't impressed by the fire department's response when a generator exploded at their home, in Rynfield, on April 14.
Botha and Myburg said the generator caused a fire which burned down their entire Wendy house, and the fire department took an hour to arrive on scene, due to load shedding.
According to Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS), the first vehicle to respond was on the scene within eight minutes.
“The first unit to arrive was a small fire engine (grass unit vehicle), which assisted with access control, which posed challenges in the case of this fire call,” said William Ntladi, media liaison officer of the Ekurhuleni DEMS.
“On arrival the vehicle was used to attack the blaze at the rear of the house, preventing it from spreading to the rest of the building.”
Botha and Myburg told the City Times that three fire trucks had to be brought in, as the first was too ill-equipped and the others couldn’t get onto the property.
“The small fire engine’s water tank capacity is fairly small in size in comparison with the major pumpers, however, it was functioning effectively,” said Ntladi.
“It doesn`t carry as much equipment compared to the major pumpers.”
Ntladi confirmed that the passage was too narrow for the major pumpers to access the premises, hence these had to park outside the yard and several hoses had to be connected to pump water to the burning Wendy house in the backyard.
He added that there were no injuries or fatalities recorded on scene and that the cause of the fire is undetermined, although Botha and Myburg are certain it was caused by the generator in the Wendy house.
