New beginning for Germiston Fire Station

Community to benefit from R56.6-million fire station.

October 11, 2018

Melissa Hart 3 minutes read

William Ntladi, district manager media liaison for DEMS. Photo: File Image

It has been a long time coming but, finally, the newly refurbished state-of-the-art multi-million Rand Germiston Fire Station has officially opened.

The opening ceremony took place at the fire station on Thursday and along with the new building, the metro also unveiled new emergency vehicles and equipment to be added to the Ekurhuleni Disaster Management and Emergency Services (DEMS) fleet.

The work to rebuild the fire station began in 2015 with it being approved in the 2013/14 financial year.

It cost the metro R56.6-million to complete.

William Ntladi, district manager media liaison for DEMS, told the GCN that the original Germiston Fire Station building, which opened in 1936, will now house a museum and education centre.

The station will service the Germiston CBD, Germiston Precinct, Dukathole, Good Hope informal settlement, Lambton, Delville, Rand Airport, some of Germiston’s industrial areas and parts of Driehoek.

However, if needed, rescue teams from the station will be deployed to other areas.

Ekurhuleni’s executive mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina sees the fire station as an investment to businesses, the community and Ekurhuleni’s citizens at large, including neighbouring cities as well.

“I am urging the community to protect this facility and the equipment,” Masina said.

“The service area has a number of challenges and the new station will help minimise response time to various communities.”

The new building has a modern gym for the firefighters to keep fit, separate change rooms and locker rooms where the fire gear is stored, a boardroom and technologically protected offices.

The station is strategically designed for easy access for the fire engines during and after responding to calls.

Along with the launch of the station came the new vehicles and equipment.

The vehicles will be distributed to various fire stations in Ekurhuleni.

The mayor was thrilled to unveil the brand new vehicles which include 37 ambulances (at a cost of R33-m), two major pumpers (with 4 000 litre tank capacities, including foam), two water tankers (with 10 000 litre tank capacities, which is made up of 9 200 litres of water and 800 litres of foam), two rescue pumpers (with 1 800 to 2 000 litre tank capacities) and a hydraulic platform “Bronto Sky Lighter” which can reach a height of 37m (all costing R37-m).

“The hydraulic platform engine is similar to the one the metro sent to help fight the fire at the Bank of Lisbon building in Johannesburg recently,” said Masina.

During the event, Masina, and a number of other officials had the chance to see for themselves how high the platform can go by going up in the cage.

Another exciting addition to the emergency services’ fleet is the Water Ambassador, a water transfer system which can transfer water from an open water source at high pressure to a fire scene within five kilometres of the water source.

The Water Ambassador is a first for the African continent.

This will allow for a sustainable supply of water at major fire scenes.

The mayor, his mayoral committee, senior metro officials and journalists were treated to a demonstration of the system at Germiston Lake.

The Water Ambassador can discharge 24 000 litres of water per minute at a pressure of more than 10 bars (1 000 KPA) through the use of eight 100mm diameter hoses at once.

Ntladi told the GCN that the new fire station will serve the community efficiently, actively and effectively.

“As DEMS we appeal to our communities to take care of the resources at our fire stations.

“We urge people to stop damaging vehicles as this means they are then out of commission for some time and this affects service delivery,” Ntladi said.

“We also ask the communities to stop injuring emergency personnel as this also adversely affects DEMS and the people themselves.

“Almost every month we are faced with one or two incidents where equipment is damaged or staff members are attacked and injured.”