There is a fire engine crisis in the City of Joburg with just seven operational fire engines to service the City at the moment and concerns are high.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi agreed that at this stage, seven fire engines were not enough.
Michael Sun of the DA weighed in on the issue and said there were indeed not enough fire engines.
“It has not been denied by the City. What is more concerning is that we are not getting members to come out and say that there are these issues. The actual number of fire engines is very concerning,” said Sun.
He added that it was not enough to just speak about the lack of fire engines but to try find solutions as well.
Mulaudzi added, “Ideally with the 31 stations all over Johannesburg, we should have at least one working fire engine in each station to extinguish fires. Alas, we have to utilise what we have now.”
He did say that there were plans in motion to try and solve this issue.
“We have already started the process of procuring other vehicles, with the City. Moving forward, we want to ensure and spend more time focusing on the upkeep of the fire trucks.”
Last year, the state of the City’s firefighting capacity was decried by the Executive Mayor Geoffrey Makhubo. It was also highlighted that the City required R330m to adequately equip the 31 fire stations in the City and guarantee adequate service levels.
“To add salt to the wound, the City, under the previous administration, already paid for fire engines which are yet to be delivered. That specific procurement is the subject of ongoing litigation by losing bidders in the previous tender process,” said Mulaudzi.
He mentioned that there was a budget of R200m set aside by the City in the current financial year for the supply, delivery and maintenance of additional vehicles. Due to the ongoing litigation, that procurement process had been adversely affected. He said it was now being expedited and may commence at some stage.
Mulaudzi added that interim measures have been put in place. “There is a memorandum of understanding with Ekurhuleni and Tshwane for support and assistance in cases of major fire emergencies where the City’s available resources may be inadequate.”
