Fires have been ripping through the City of Johannesburg in recent days, with reports of a new fire almost every day, the latest being the Joburg Fire that tore through the Department of Health building in the inner city, claiming three firefighters’ lives.
This has raised concerns about the City’s ability to deal with fires, with an apparent lack of actual fire engines.
This issue is not new.
The City’s ageing fire engines are often only able to do one trip before it needs to be sent back in for repairs.
The City’s Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, said for the 30 fire stations across the metro, 13 of them do not have a fire engine.
“Due to their ageing status they are spending most of the times at the workshops being repaired instead of being on the road servicing our residents,” Mulaudzi said.
The City’s stations are divided into six districts, and each district has between two and three fully operational fire engines.
With 17 fire engines in working condition, plans are in place to improve this.
Mulaudzi said the City has already started replacing all the ageing fleet.
Five new fire engines were delivered at Fairview, Lawley, Jabulani, Cosmo City and Florida Park fire stations and two refurbished vehicles were sent to Eldorado Park and Ivory Park fire stations, he said.
“In the meantime, while we have this shortage of fire engines we have strategically placed all our fully operational fire engines according to the districts so that we can effectively respond to all the emergencies which might occur throughout the City.”
Mulaudzi also said they will be advertising for a tender to replace the entire fleet as a permanent solution to this issue.
“We want to reassure all our residents that there won’t be any emergency which will not be attended due to the shortage of vehicles.”
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