Fire equipment shortage hits local stations

Randburg Fire Station is one of many under-resourced stations in the Gauteng Province. The station is faced with the dire shortages of vehicles.

This is the robust challenge as is established by Ward 104 councillor, Mike Wood, during his oversight visit to the station on 1 July.

He said the station did not have enough vehicles and could not quickly provide vehicles for back-up in case the occurred incident required immense attention. “I visited the station, it is clean, but there is a shortage of resources,” he said.

Meanwhile the Hunter’s Hill Fire Station was not affected by this dire challenge.

Ward 101 councillor, Ralf Bittkau, said the station was one of few that was operating well in the province. However, only one of six hoses provided in December was working properly with the other five damaged.

“The station was provided with six new hoses and only one is working properly. The quality of those hoses is shocking,” said Bittkau.

Joburg EMS spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, said at the moment most of the stations in the Johannesburg area were resourced with equipment to respond to incidences when required.

“Our equipment works all the time, day and night, so there will always be a need to replace them,” he explained.

He acknowledged that most fire engine fleets were ageing. “We have implemented a vehicle replacement plan to replace our ageing vehicles with new ones,” he said.

According to Mulaudzi, fire trucks were not only used when there was a shortage of ambulances but when there was a need for back-up from qualified personnel to assist.

“Yes, it is true that we have a shortage of ambulances not only in Joburg, but in Gauteng in general, as they are provided by the provincial emergency services,” he explained.

He also said that all fire stations were fully operational to deal with any emergency which might occur. “We have already initiated a number of projects to address equipment shortage,” he said.

Details: Joburg EMS 011 758 9540.