JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – Damning information was revealed by fire department personnel following the visit by the Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Parks Tau, to a family that lost five children in a recent fire.
According to firemen in the south, a fire engine was reportedly taken from the Kibler Park fire station solely for the mayoral visit on August 12.
This fire engine is believed to have been taken because Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, did not have a roadworthy fire engine available at the time of the shack fire that killed five children on August 10.
On the day of the visit, a CHRONICLE reporter was informed that a fire engine at the Kibler Park fire station had been taken but did not make it to Orange Farm as it broke down on the way there. “This is the fire engine that was used at Kibler Park and now has been taken to the Orange Farm station. The doors are tied by a rope because the doors open while driving. It’s also leaking water and when we arrive at a building on fire, the water is always finished. Now the fire engine broke down as it’s not selecting gears,” said the informant.
According to the informant, the Kibler fire engine was going to be exchanged with the one at Orange Farm for the sake of media scrutiny.
“We have acknowledged that most of our vehicles are old so most of the time they are in workshops for repairs rather than on the road. That is a fact we cannot run away from. We have a vehicle replacement plan in place, but remember we cannot replace all the vehicles at the same time because fire engines are not like a vehicle you drive, were you just go to a showroom and get one. They are built from scratch according to the required specifications and the risk in the required area,” responded Johannesburg EMS spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi.
“We want to reassure the citizens of the City of Johannesburg that we are still capable of rendering effective professional emergency services to all the citizens of the City. We have our 28 fire stations operating fully without any disruptions. During the fire incident in Orange farm on August 10, Orange Farm had a small vehicle which is not a fire engine but can be used for firefighting operations and rescue operations. Later on a vehicle from the Lawley fire station was dispatched to assist. This is not unusual because when one of our vehicles has a breakdown we will always have a replacement vehicle to be used in that area while the engine is being repaired at the workshop.”
Firefighters say they are forced to work using fire engines that have been in service for more than 15 years. These fire engines reportedly run 24 hours a day.
