Fire brigade response times, reasonable or tardy?

This after a Land Rover Freelander caught fire in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the suburb on 4 January.

According to a witness Grace Gambiza, the car caught alight at about 7pm, which was when the first calls were made to emergency services.

“The car was right under my window,” she said. “Residents said that it was going to explode because the owner [mentioned] that the car had a full tank of petrol. Everyone was on the phone.”

By the time Gambiza managed to get through to the emergency call centre at 7.10pm they told her that they had already logged the incident.

She said residents resorted to putting out the fire themselves and by the time a fire truck had arrived at about 7.30pm, the flames had already been extinguished.

“We also called the police, but the police said we should contact the fire brigade” she said.

City of Johannesburg’s, emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said their standard response time was about 30 to 45 minutes.

“Callers need to provide a lot of details,” he said. “The call needs to be captured, the information processed and given to the dispatcher.”

Mulaudzi added that emergency services, including the fire brigades in Johannesburg were fully operational during the festive break.

The nearest fire station to the apartment complex was Rosebank Fire Station, which according to Mulaudzi has two fire trucks on standby. However, he emphasised that Randburg Fire Station also shared responsibility for emergency situations in the area.

Ward 90 councillor Anthony Still noted his concern over the response time. “Considering there wasn’t high traffic [on 4 January] 15 minutes response time would have been ideal,” he said.

Watch the video and read the original story here:

Car catches alight in Craighall