Lack of fire safety programmes blamed for shack fires in Zandspruit

The latest disastrous fire which gutted over 20 shacks in Zandspruit on Tuesday, 30 July, has left Ward 114 councillor, Victor Mafinya making a strong appeal for fire safety programmes from the City.

Dozens of families were left with no roof over their heads after the fire wrought havoc, destroying a total of 21 shacks in the informal settlement.

Read the initial article here:

https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/301654/just-in-about-15-shacks-razed-by-a-blaze-in-zandspruit/

The fire is believed to have been sparked off by a paraffin stove.

Mafinya attributed the disaster to the lack of educational programmes from the City regarding fire safety.

“We have asked the City of Johannesburg to provide us with educational programmes at least three times a year, but now we are approaching summer and we haven’t had any,” he said.

As this was the second fire the Northsider had reported on during this winter season, Mafinya felt something had to be done.

“This really means that we need an educational programme about fire safety because it is quite evident that we are unable to handle such situations,” he lamented.

Mafinya also criticised the poor response time from the fire department. “I know my community can be violent but it stems from reasonable issues. I mean, they had to phone the fire department for more than an hour and after that only one fire engine arrived – and then ran short of water. It took another hour and a half to fetch more, which is a problem,” he explained.

City of Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, responded to the allegations. “We have had a number of educational fire safety programmes in the area before this winter, in fact we handed over our Jozi Safety kits in the area last year June. That was an initiative from the department to prevent fire incidents which are caused by heating and lighting appliances like paraffin stoves and candles,” he said.

He added, “Over and above that we have established a CERT team, which consists of members of community who are trained in basic fire fighting and first aid. They are capable of assisting when there is an incident in the area using buckets of water like we saw during the incident. If it was not for them, the fire incident could have been worse”.

Mulaudzi also mentioned that through their public education programme, his team would continue to educate the residents of Zandspruit about life and fire safety educational programmes

In response to the delayed arrival of the fire engine, Mulaudzi said the fire engine from Cosmo City, which is very close to the area of Zandspruit, responded to the incident.

Mafinya also touched on the way forward. “It’s going to be tough moving forward. We know we are on our own as the community of Zandspruit. The only thing that we are waiting for, is for Disaster Management to come out and assist with blankets and food for the affected families. As for rebuilding the shacks, we have to fork out from our own pockets because the City does not provide building material,” he said.