The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service has asked residents and visitors to the city to be extra cautious and vigilant as the risk of fires and rapid fire spread increases dramatically during the summer months.
A combination of high temperatures and strong winds increases the chances of fires over this period, particularly in informal settlements, where residents often lack electricity and use primus stoves, wood fires, candles and paraffin lights.
The City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre has stepped up its annual Risk Reduction Campaign, which raises awareness of the dangers of fires and how to manage these, especially in informal settlements.
The City has trained 114 seasonal firefighters to join its 800 full-time firefighters at its 28 municipal fire stations over the summer season. They will be used to combat bush and grass fires and will be assigned to district and divisional fire stations in teams of 20.
Seven new fire engines have also been acquired over the past year.
The Fire and Rescue Service has also carried out proactive inspections on high-risk areas such as mountains and the urban fringe, to ensure that fire breaks have been made or maintained.
Chief Fire Officer Ian Schnetler points out that fires occur throughout the year, and the Fire and Rescue Service is geared to deal with fires at any time.
“What is misconstrued as the ‘fire season’ is in fact the summer season of the Western Cape, where there may be a higher risk of vegetation type fires due to climate change, higher temperatures and increased wind speeds, with the possible higher influx of people into the rural and informal areas of the city.”
Schnetler said a high number of fires occur during the latter quarter of January, and in February and March, so comparisons to the numbers of fires during the whole of the summer season can only be made in a few months time.
“The comparisons for this year and December are generally lower, except for the trauma and medical incident rates, which are steadily increasing.”
According to Schnetler, there have already been 73 deaths as a result of informal settlement and formal dwelling unit fires during this year. The majority of these have not been in major conflagrations, but in smaller single dwelling unit fires.
To date, 3 775 individual informal dwelling units have been affected by fires. These range from units in informal settlements, to informal units in the backyards of formal dwellings.
“For the December period, we had fewer vegetation fires, which can be attributed to the late rains and the weather, as well as deployments of our fire patrols and our awareness campaigns, which may be having an impact.”
Schnetler appealed to members of the public to be careful of starting fires, and be vigilant and report fires if they spot them.
“The bottom line is for people just to be sensible where they can with regards to fires, and to report them immediately if they are seen. There is a general tendency when people see fires to think that someone else has reported it, but if they report it quickly, it means we can respond quickly.”
There are also prohibitions in place on the making of fires in the open air across the Western Cape due to the area’s extraordinary fire hazards.
This includes the burning of rubbish or any other material for disposal purposes – this action is illegal
The only exceptions are for fires made within a demarcated picnic or camping area, or caravan park or holiday resort, provided these fires are properly attended to; and fires made for the purpose of preparing food or any other domestic or customary purpose in townships or residential areas. Prior approval must be obtained in writing from the relevant authorities for all other fires.
Report fires to the Emergency Call Centre: 107 from a landline and 021 480 7700 from a cellphone, and provide accurate detail of the address of the fire.
Tips on how to reduce the risk of fires:
- Every home needs at least one exit route which will enable the occupants to escape should a fire break out
- Keep matches, lighters, paraffin and poisons in a safe place that is not accessible to children.
- Keep stoves on a flat surface, away from draughts and anything that could catch fire
- Open fires and stoves should never be left unattended
- Extinguish candles and paraffin lamps before you go to sleep or leave your home
- Smoking in bed is dangerous
- Keep a bucket of water and a bucket of sand ready to extinguish any fires that break out
- If a paraffin stove catches alight, extinguish the flames with sand rather than water
- Turn off the electricity at the mains before trying to extinguish an electric fire
- Use water to extinguish wood, paper and material fires
- Warn people inside the building to escape as quickly as possible
- Help people get out – then stay out
- Keep roads clear so that fire engines can get to the fire quickly
- Keep the area around fire hydrants clear so that firefighters can access the water they need to extinguish the fire
- Call emergency services on 107 on a Telkom line and 021 480 7700 from a cellphone and get help fast! The sooner you phone, the sooner help will arrive
- When you phone, provide a full address and a landmark (shop or school) close to the fire so that fire-fighters can find the fire scene quickly
- Know and show the City’s emergency numbers and teach children how to dial them in emergencies
Martin Pollack
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