Although Plastic View informal settlement in the east of Pretoria may not be fireproof, 500 families will however be safeguarded against roaring fires gutting homes in future with the use of much-needed gadgets.
The settlement is situated next to the Moreleta NG Kerk as you enter De Villebois Mareuil Drive.
The illegally camped-on land is prone to fires due to the plastic, stick and zinc used as building material in the squatter camps, so the Tshwane metro emergency services (EMS) has seen it fit to address the health and safety hazard with smoke detectors.
The smoke detectors will assist in protecting households, businesses and early childhood development centres at the roughly 17-year-old informal settlement harbouring hundreds of men, women and children.
These measures to guard against fire devastation are the combined effort of EMS, insurer Santam and the Gauteng department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) fire services directorate.
The triad was responsible for the installation of 500 smoke detector alarms in Plastic View on March 1.
EMS spokesperson, deputy chief Charles Mabaso, said the installation was part of a pilot project sponsored by Santam.
“The pilot involves smoke detector alarms being installed in the informal settlement, which has been known to experience devastating fires, often with lives lost.”
Mabaso said the initiative was also attended by 113 firefighting students from EMS training academy, their instructors, as well as disaster risk management officials, who worked collectively to instal the detectors in predetermined households, businesses and early childhood development centres in the informal settlement.
“Officials took time to orientate and educate the beneficiaries on how to escape their dwellings if the detector is activated, how to reset the detector if the fire is contained and extinguished in its incipient stages, and to immediately call the emergency services toll-free on 107 emergency number.
“The beneficiaries were also informed not to smoke cigarettes or to make open fires inside dwellings to avoid triggering the detector’s alarm.”
Mabaso said the emergency services department would continue to empower the community with knowledge regarding fires and offer safety awareness campaigns.
“The department would like to thank Santam for sponsoring this project, which will contribute immensely to disaster risk reduction, and for contributing water, soft drinks and energy drinks for the officials who installed the detectors.”
Councillor for ward 91 Henning Viljoen thanked everyone for “organising an improvement project for the community”.
“Good information to the community is what would make the project a success, ” stressed Viljoen.
Flare-ups have over the years swept through thousands of makeshift homes, claiming multiple lives in the process.
Such fires have been blamed on neglected open fires, overloaded electrical plugs and illegal electricity connections.
Last year, over 200 residents were left homeless after a fire had ransacked the informal settlement.
The incident happened on the morning of November 4, where one victim was treated for smoke inhalation and moderate injuries and three others were treated for minor injuries at the scene but refused transport to a medical facility.
The tragedy had left 250 residents displaced as 45 shacks were charred along with their personal belongings.
Emergency services’ disaster risk management issued 200 blankets and 66 mattresses to affected households.
In October 2018, a fire was determined to have been caused by a paraffin stove in one of the shacks.
In July 2021, investigation could not determine the origin and cause of two other fires.
“An observation has been made that there is sporadic illegal burning of waste materials and open fires used for cooking, which pose a risk to the settlement,” said Tshwane.
The 2023 fire came to the fore with residents petitioning for the metro to remove illegal immigrants from Plastic View and enforce a court order.
A 2022 petition started by resident Nico Hamman stated: “We, the tax-paying residents of Moreleta Park Ward 91 and 47, are tired of constantly listening to empty promises being made to remove squatters from Plastic View.”
This as Tshwane had previously said there were plans for a housing development at Pretorius Park Extension 40 to accommodate a chunk of the informal settlement inhabitants through a mixed-use building scheme.
The construction close to the intersection of Garsfontein Road and De Villebois Maréuil Drive, east of Pretoria, was approved in 2022 to accommodate the building of 853 structures to house families.
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