KwaDukuza fire department dangerously understaffed, ill-equipped

KwaDukuza fire stations are understaffed and ill-equipped to protect the Ilembe district against disaster, reports North Coast Courier.

Servicing a growing population of almost 700,000 people in the district, Ballito station staff told DA councillors during an oversight visit last week that in terms of protecting the community from fire, the station was non-compliant.

ALSO READ: Merebank Mall in KZN on fire

A high ranking employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “Despite the fact that fire services are supposed to be a district municipality role, Ilembe does not have a service which means that [the] two KwaDukuza stations, one in Stanger and one in Ballito, serve the entire district which we do not have the capacity to do. That makes us non-compliant against community safety from fire.”

With the fast rate of development in Ballito, station staff said they were not equipped with proper machinery to handle a fire in a large building.

“This station was built in 1994 when Ballito was just a small town. With the new buildings coming up, we should have a turntable for us to reach the top of a high building.

“The closest station that has this equipment is Phoenix and it will take an hour for them to get here. Most of our equipment has reached its lifespan and nothing is being done about it.”

A survey conducted by the station six years ago found that KwaDukuza alone should have at least six stations to meet the required eight-minute response time.

Lack of fleet, outdated technology, and a shortage of staff see many calls going unanswered, resulting in cases where people have died.

“In terms of the law, if people need us we have to go. So we travel as far out as Maphumulo and Ndwedwe. We do not have a hunting line so if people try calling us and we are on another call, the number will just ring as if it is not being answered. Our capturing, rerouting, and diverting systems are done manually because we only have one outdated computer at the station. No photocopy machines, no printers and no access to emails.”

DA PR councillor Privi Naidoo said according to council reports, there were a total of 16 vehicles between the Ballito and Stanger station, but only seven were running: “The Ballito station has one firetruck and three bakkies, two of which have been in repairs for almost a month. There is only one water tanker.”

This is the only functioning computer at the Ballito fire station.

Aside from battling with a lack of equipment, it was reported that staff morale was at an all-time low since firefighters are not provided with any form of trauma counselling and younger members of the force were struggling to cope.

“We are supposed to have an occupational health department as a separate unit but it is unfortunate that the municipality does not take into consideration mental trauma. We see people burning and at times we cannot do anything about it. We cannot deliver a service because we are restricted but at the same time, we blame ourselves for not being able to do our jobs properly.”

Naidoo said she would be escalating the issues in council.

KwaDukuza municipality media liaison Sipho Mkhize said the DAs concerns should be referred to their caucus.

“Matters such as this are sensitive and require that the DA make a submission to their caucus so that the matter can be referred to the speaker for council intervention.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.