The City of Johannesburg’s MMC for Public Safety, Michael Sun, has defended firefighters, saying the lack of fire engines are to blame for long response times – and not lazy firefighters.
Sun said these tools of the trade need to be brought back to the City of Joburg’s roads.
Read also: Fourways resident and MMC for Public Safety shares great concern on violent protesing studnets
While he was the Shadow MMC for the same portfolio, Sun realised that the City was not meeting its medical and fire emergency response time targets, and the root of the problem was a lack of resources. “There were no fire engines, they were all in for repairs,” he said.
The MMC was recently praised for putting 29 fire engines back on the road after some were in for repairs from as early as November last year. Sun said this fleet now needs to be maintained so they do not go out of commission so often.
Read also: Public safety official surprised by accident
When an engine does go out of commission, Sun said the effects can be dire. “The City’s 28 fire stations very often service each other. Some engines have to come [from] as far as Sandton for a fire in Orange Farm. That is why it takes a long time. It is not because of lazy firefighters, but because of a lack of vehicles.”
The City is awaiting a new fleet of fire engines that could cost between R3 million to R6 million each. The fleet should arrive in April next year. This will help the City to get closer to the international standard ratio of fire engines to citizens.
“We face the same challenge, although not as critical, with the Metro police and ambulance fleets. We need to bring back these tools of the trade in order to better deliver services,” Sun said.
So, are there enough vehicles to attend to emergencies in such a rapidly growing city? The simple answer, according to the MMC, is no.
“Johannesburg is a fast growing city that makes it difficult to keep up with emergency vehicles. Unfortunately, none of the cities in South Africa meet the international standard, although we are working very hard to achieve that,” Sun said.
