Rescue South Africa responds to any situation

The mystery of where some of Sandton’s world-class firefighters have disappeared to has been solved.

The expertise gained by crack teams sent overseas by the old Sandton Town Council to hone their skills at world firefighting events, or train with New York’s superb Emergency Services, has not been wasted.

Today, these men are among the 200 specialised volunteers and a handful of permanent staff behind Rescue South Africa.

This according to Bruce Hepburn, who recently gave a talk to members of the Highveld Forum where he said that Rescue South Africa is one of hundreds of international teams the United Nations can call on to assist in the wake of any world disaster.

Hepburn said that whether it be earthquakes, tsunamis or mining accidents, ‘if the crisis is of a magnitude that overwhelms local resources, expert help is at hand’.

He said that these volunteers are from all walks of life and, in addition to being paramedics, they have individual expertise in many different fields. Depending on what specialities are required for a particular disaster, teams can be mobilised to travel anywhere in the world in 24 hours.

“South Africans are experts in many fields such as mining for example,” said Hepburn.

“So from the Chilean disaster to the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in Japan, our equipment and knowledge of working in difficult areas is a huge help.”

The Rescue South Africa team had to tunnel into buildings to find people using audio equipment that can hear the scratch of a fingernail, an instrument that can pick up electro-magnetic beats of a heart and SA Police cadaver dogs.

South Africa saw yet another Rescue South Africa team leaving to help victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

“The devastation was extreme and the most unnerving part was the silence of death in the wake of the disaster,” said Hepburn.

At the end of his ‘Proudly South African’ talk, Hepburn said, “Japanese honesty is impressive. Every item of value found, was handed in to the authorities, jewellery, spectacles, documents you name it. When you are stripped of everything but the clothes you have on, the only currency left is love.”

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Also check out:

https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/209231/video-city-power-officials-suspect-deliberate-sabotage-cause-eikenhoffire/