Community forced to deal with veld fire
ROOSEVELT PARK – About 10 members of the hobby group fought the fire, which had spread into the surrounding veld, for an hour, until it was extinguished.
Members of the community had to fight a raging veld fire for an hour by themselves after Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) were reportedly alerted to the incident but failed to send a fire engine to assist.
Members of a hobby group at Roosevelt Park Bowling Club were setting up their activities for the evening when they noticed flames through the clubhouse windows at about 7.30pm on 30 September. “The grass outside the clubhouse was alight and we found a homeless man beating the fire with a blanket,” said Matthew Putter of the Warhammer hobby group. “We grabbed a hosepipe and buckets of water and started fighting the fire. One of us called the fire brigade but they never came. They only phoned us back an hour and a half later to ask if the fire was put out.”
About 10 members of the hobby group fought the fire, which had spread into the surrounding veld, for an hour, until it was extinguished. Their shoes and clothing were damaged while doing this but other than that no one was hurt and no property was destroyed during the incident. “When we had finished we went back and carried on our games,” Putter added. “The fire brigade only phoned back then.”
EMS spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi said, “Due to the shortages of vehicles throughout the City, we are forced to strategically place the vehicles so that we can be able to render effective emergency services to all our residents. This arrangement can also cause a delay in terms of the response times. At the time of this incident, the fire engines was engaged in another incident.”
