The functionality of fire hydrants in Lambton has been a serious point of concern for the residents since a home in Eighth Avenue burnt to the ground last September.
Pine Pienaar, the vice-chairman of the Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF, told the GCN that on the day of the fire firefighters faced setbacks when the nearby fire hydrant they attempted to get water from fell apart.
Shortly after the incident Matthew Baxter contacted the GCN in an attempt to get the answers he wasn’t getting from the metro, despite numerous calls.
Baxter believed that there should be a maintenance plan in place to ensure that fire hydrants throughout the city are functioning properly.
This year the problem seemed to continue with the Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF’s Darryl Beck bringing the state of the Lambton Sector Four fire hydrants, once again to the attention of the GCN.
William Ntladi, district manager media liaison for Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) said, “All the hydrants around Lambton are in working condition.”
A GCN journalist recently went out into Lambton with Ntladi and a maintenance team from DEMS to investigate the claims made by residents and to test several fire hydrants.
“One critical point to highlight is that they are underground systems which are subjected to vandalism.
“The hydrant covers are also being tampered with and stolen and this challenge has been identified in other areas as well,” said Ntladi.
He explained that vandals steal crucial parts of the hydrants as they are made of metal, however, each fire engine has these parts on hand.
“Firefighters will first inspect the hydrant and if need be go to the truck to get the parts needed to make the hydrant work.
“It may appear that firefighters don’t know what they are doing or that the hydrant is not working but this is not the case,” he explained.
“Another problem faced by firefighters is that residents cover the hydrants found in their driveways or on their pavements, this means that time is wasted while we try to uncover the hydrant.
“Time we should spend fighting the fire.”
An inspection was carried out on several fire hydrants identified by the residents and CPF, namely, the corner of Third Avenue and Second Street, corner of Fourth Avenue and Second Street, corner of First Avenue and Second Street and the corner of Banks and Cachet streets.
All of the identified fire hydrants are in working order with the fire hydrant at the corner of Banks and Cachet streets replaced completely.
“The fire hydrant was replaced due to a leak,” Ntladi explained.
“Just because the hydrant has sand covering some of it or parts missing does not mean it is not functional, as I said before many of these hydrants are victims of vandalism and theft, but firefighters are prepared to deal with these setbacks.”
The community is encouraged to continue to report missing hydrant covers and leaking hydrants to the metro so that the issues can be addressed and added to the maintenance schedule.
