Joburg EMS on standby as intense cold front to hit city

Johannesburg Emergency Services (EMS) said it will be on standby for any eventuality as an intense cold front is expected to hit various cities in the Gauteng province.

The Joburg EMS said it has noted with concern the warning from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) of the significance drop in temperatures in most parts of the City of Johannesburg from Wednesday going into Thursday.

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Johannesburg will see temperatures of 2 degrees on Monday, with the mercury plummeting to 0 on Wednesday and Thursday.

Pretoria is also expected to see very low temperatures of between 2 and 3 degrees.   

Spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the drop in temperatures means that residents throughout the city will be tempted to use all sorts of heating devices to try and warm themselves against the cold weather and in the process making themselves vulnerable to fire incidents at home.

“Following the fire incident which happened last Sunday in Kwa Mai Mai Informal Settlement were one person lost his life and other 500 people left displaced.

“We therefore would like to urge all our residents to use all heating devices safely including heaters, imbaula, paraffin stoves ,candles not to leave them unattended while in use to prevent fire incidents at home,” Mulaudzi said.

Mulaudzi has offered safety tips to ensure residents remain safe during cold weather:

• Keep burning candles out of reach of children and pets.

• Don’t leave young children unattended in a room with a lit Candle.

• Store candles, matches and lighters away from the reach of children.

• Use safe containers to store paraffin i.e. safety caps

• Do not connect electricity illegally it’s dangerous to you, children and those around instead report illegal connections.

• Do not leave a heater unattended while in use it might cause fires at home

“We have our Disaster Management monitoring teams in all seven regions of the City of Johannesburg monitoring all incidents which might occur and all our Fire Stations are fully operational throughout the City to make sure that we can respond to any incidents which might occur,” Mulaudzi said.

Meanwhile, the drop in the mercury is expected to put more strain the electricity grid as parastatal Eskom battles to keep the lights on.

The dark lords of Megawatt Park on Tuesday announced that load shedding could be implemented at short notice due to the continued shortage of generation capacity which is expected to constrain the system on Tuesday evening and the next few days.

“Should there be any further significant breakdowns, load shedding may be required at short notice, most likely during the evening peak of 5pm to 10pm,” the power utility said in a statement.

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