MMC of Public Safety visits Cosmo Fire Station

The City of Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) of the Public Safety David Tembe visited Cosmo City Fire Station on May 9 to understand challenges the station faces daily.

Tembe, the former director of operations in emergency services and public safety, inspected all the emergency services vehicles and the fire station to check the state of readiness for emergency services to respond to in the community.

During his visit, Tembe received complaints about the burning issues of unavailable ambulances, shortage of emergency equipment and fire engines at the station.

Tembe explained they do not have ambulances in the city because the ambulance licence is with the province, and the problem is the community had not been notified about the issue.

“As an MMC of Public Safety, it is my responsibility to ensure that the public is safe. I was surprised that people die in our station, and I was not aware of the matter. But right now, we will ensure that there is safety in our community and we will assist our station with the necessary emergency equipment.”

When questioned about the dangers of assisting patients without emergency equipment which could endanger the lives of the patients and their profession, Tembe said that they are working on an emergency plan to assist the station with emergency equipment.

“I am going to talk to the MMC of Health to put at least oxygen at the fire station and have bandages so that when patients visit the station they can receive help while the paramedics wait for an ambulance from the province.

“We can have ambulances from the province on standby in Cosmo City Fire station so that patients can be treated and transported to the hospitals without having to wait for hours. Because if we don’t have the necessary emergency equipment right now it will compromise the professional work of our firefighters and paramedics .”

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