One of the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ’s) Emergency Management Services (EMS) based in Soweto is poised to clinch this year’s Centrum Guardians of the Year Award.
They spearheaded the dramatic rescue of 18 people buried under the rubble of a collapsed building near the Orlando Cooling Towers in June last year.
According to EMS spokesperson Nana Radebe in a recent press release, the team arrived to the scene at 7am on 25 June last year and worked swiftly to treat, stabilise and transport the first patient to hospital.
“They then deftly navigated the extremely unstable and unsafe collapsed concrete and steel beams in search for more survivors; the crew kept their cool and succeeded in successfully evacuating more survivors.”
They were assisted by Advanced Life Support, Heavy Vehicle Support and search and rescue units from Ekurhuleni Metro and West Rand District Municipality as well as K9, Riga K9 and ER24 in their efforts.
The voting period for the prestigious prize, which enters its seventh year this year, closes on Thursday 20 August. The accolade is widely regarded as the ultimate recognition of public safety service excellence in South Africa and started in 2008 as a way of giving the emergency management services fraternity in South Africa deserved recognition for their efforts.
Winners are to be announced on Tuesday 25 August.
CoJ urges residents to show their support for the heroes by placing their votes on the Centrum Guardian website (www.centrumguardian.com).
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