Emergency services educate the community about fire safety
Call us in time and we’ll arrive on time, says emergency services.
Instead of extinguishing the fire, emergency services set a shack alight during the launch of the Ekurhuleni Pre-Winter Fire Safety Campaign at the Gugulethu/Everest informal settlement in Springs, last Saturday.
This year, the annual fire safety awareness campaign, is themed “Call us in time, We arrive on time”.
The campaign will be run to re-educate residents about fire safety ahead of the approaching winter season, when paraffin stoves, liquefied petroleum gas heaters and braziers (imbawula) will be used to keep warm.
Tumelo Lephosa, a resident from Angelo informal settlement, who is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), said the demonstration involving a burning shack made the message more tangible for residents who attended the launch.
“After seeing us in action today, the community understands the role we play and how they can assist us in extinguishing such fires using the bucket brigade system instead of standing in a crowd and watching someone’s home burn to ashes,” he said.
The 649 CERT members who were present at the launch have been deployed to be the first in line to respond to fire incidents in all 119 informal settlements within the metro, while emergency response officials make their way to a scene.
“The number of shack fire fatalities and injuries in Ekurhuleni has dropped since 2008.
“That is a clear indication that the pre-winter fire safety campaigns and the efforts of the Community Emergency Response Teams go a long way in saving lives,” said MMC for community safety Clr Vivian Chauke.
Chauke urged the CERT members, who have been trained in first aid, basic firefighting, bucket fire brigading, disaster reduction and public education, to impart their knowledge to other community members so that everyone will be able to play a part in the event of a fire.
The fire safety awareness campaign will run until the end of August where the Ekurhuleni Emergency and Disaster Management Services team will visit informal settlements across the city and educate them on precautions to take to avoid fire incidents and what to do in the event of a fire breaking out.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services can be contacted on 011 458-0911 or alternatively dial 112 from a cellphone or the National Emergency number, 10177.
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