The metro was recently chosen as the esteemed host of the three-day second Bi-Annual Public Information Education and Relations (PIER) conference in Africa.
Themed ‘The Impact of PIER in Fire and Life Safety’, the conference was held at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, last Wednesday.
Statistics generated from 54 out 210 fire departments, revealed at the event, stated that there were 49 567 recorded fires in 2017.
This means there were over 135 fires each day in South Africa alone.
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The recorded insurance pay-outs came to just over R15-million per day and 51 per cent of the financial losses were residential while 21 per cent were commercial.
The cost of industrial losses increased by R95-m, a 42 per cent increase from the previous year.
The cost of residential losses increased by R930-m, a 50 per cent increase from the previous year.
Total financial losses have increased by 340 per cent a year in a 10-year comparison.
Based on the knowledge of the above recorded losses, the Gauteng Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, along with emergency services head of departments from as far as Limpopo, North West and the USA, met at Emperors Palace to share ideas on how to lessen the financial burden and losses faced by the EMS.
Vincent Khoza from Ekurhuleni Disaster and Management Services (DEMS) presented Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) as one of the successful solutions to combat this issue and encouraged community involvement.
“CERT programmes were developed in 2008 to assist communities in taking care of themselves in the aftermath of a major disaster when first responders are overwhelmed or unable to respond because of communication or transportation difficulties,” said Khoza.
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When an emergency, disaster or overwhelming incident occurs at an informal settlement and responders are not immediately available, CERTs will assist by:
• Conducting an initial size-up in the informal settlement.
• Reducing immediate dangers by turning off utilities, suppressing small fires, evacuating the area, and helping others.
• Treating people in the immediate area.
• Establish a command post, staging area, and medical triage and treatment areas.
• Developing a plan of operation based on life-saving priorities and available resources.
• Applying their training to situations where CERT members can make a difference.
• Establishing and maintaining communication with responders.
“All 119 informal settlements in the metro fall within an area of operation of a fire station.
“CERT members are linked to the fire station operationally covering that informal settlement.
“The station manager of that fire station is expected to establish a good working relationship with members of CERT at the informal settlement/s linked to each fire station,” he concluded.
Day-to-day functions of CERT members include:
The PIER section is expected to establish sufficient operational procedures to ensure that the relationships are kept healthy and smooth.
CERT members are expected to conduct door-to-door public fire and life safety education and at a minimum visit 10 households in their respective informal settlements each week.
The activities are recorded on a form and this form should be signed and the contents thereof verified by all who sign the form before it’s submitted to the finance department to claim a stipend which is currently set at R2 000 a month provided that all submissions are compliant.
A pertinent issue raised by most speakers was the increased attacks on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel by civilians.
A data analysis report was presented by Mapule Abrahams from Gauteng EMS and stated strategies which could manage and possibly end the attacks by assessing behavioural patterns and identifying hotspots.
“We need to roll out panic buttons for all EMS crews, live mapping and geo-fencing of all hot zones,” said Abrahams.
Abrahams mentioned that although in some situations they had the support of SAPS and security services, this was not always the case.
“Paramedic attacks are now becoming an epidemic, and as such, should be treated with the urgency that the situation warrants,” Abrahams added.
The North West and Limpopo representatives spoke on a number of hazards they had experienced including inadequate resources and a lack of education and awareness on various emergency service issues.
The two provinces also acknowledged the need for PIER programmes in their regions as they would continue to help in minimising risk factors and create safer living and working environments.
“PIER is a Gauteng innovation, as the province rolls out visits to the North West and Limpopo. We invited them here to report back on the successes, failures and areas of improvement in using PIER in their regions.
“Disaster management is everyone’s business
“We have common goals in saving lives and reducing risk is our main objection,” said Neo Lebethe, spokesperson for Provincial Disaster Management Centre.
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