Firefighters commended on their hard work at a debrief meeting
Incident commander on December 31 regional commander Jimmy Nyalungu commended the firefighters for their hard work on the day and thanked all role players for their assistance.
Ekurhuleni Firefighters met at the Alberton Firestation for a debrief meeting on January 31 regarding the fuel line fire in Verwoerdpark on December 31, 2019.
The chair of the meeting, district commander Mike Meyer led with the intention that the meeting should be seen as a learning opportunity for them to improve in the future.
Firefighters responding to the scene were highly commended by the officers present for the hard work they did in containing an extremely difficult fire to extinguish, especially considering that there were no injuries on the day.
The difficulty of containing the fire, as described by the firefighters, was stemming from the cause of the fire and theft from the fuel line. The thieves jacked up a cement slab covering a valve.
The foam used could not reach the pressurised fuel that was on fire under the valve to suppress the flames.
Incident commander on the day of the fire, regional commander Jimmy Nyalungu commended the responders for their professional handling of the situation.
The assistance given to them by Spill Tech in finally reducing the pressure and extinguishing the flames was also commended.
As the intended purpose of the meeting was to learn from the incident, some challenges on the day were highlighted.
A major problem on the day, highlighted by those present, was the communication between concerned parties.
Due to various parties involved on the day there were problems with coordinating between them.
A second problem was the communication between the fire department and the pipeline company regarding what the product in the pipes was which made firefighting more difficult.
Another problem highlighted by the members was the rehabilitation provided to the people working.
Initially, food and water was unavailable.
Nyalungu thanked the community, residents and local businesses for assisting with bringing those who were working water and food products.
The officers again thanked all role players, including the CPF, Spill Tech, Disaster Management, the media and residents for assisting in the successful containment of the fire.
To their firefighters they said ‘thank you’ for all their hard work and the dedication they showed on the day.
