Despite the increase in the numbers of dwellings in informal settlements, the City’s Fire and Rescue Service recorded fewer fires in informal settlements in 2009 compared to previous years.

During the course of 2009, a total of 3 780 individual informal dwelling units out of approximately 84 000 were affected by fires.

The causes of the fires vary from the illegal use of electricity to malfunctioning heating and cooking devices. Isolated cases of arson have also been recorded.

“If one takes into context the number of dwelling units affected in 2005, which was recorded at 8 864, then the City has gone a long way to reducing this by more than half over the last four years, and we will strive to reduce it even further over the years to come,” says Ian Schnetler, Chief Fire Officer for the City.

To educate people about the dangers of fires, the City’s Disaster Risk Management Department distributes awareness pamphlets to informal settlement areas prior to and during the fire season. This campaign works in tandem with an appeal to employers of people who might live in informal settlements to help spread the awareness message. “Such people can make a big difference in a small way. By taking five minutes to discuss fires and the dangers thereof with their employees, they might just save a life,” says Schnetler.

In an attempt to improve the City’s fire fighting ability in informal settlements and to alleviate the effect of densification in these areas, which make it difficult for Fire Services to access fires in the fastest possible time, seven new fire engines (with 4 x 4 capabilities) were acquired late last year. These have been specifically designed to assist fire fighters in mountainous and informal settlement areas. Disaster Risk Management staff are carrying out pro-active inspections of informal and other areas to recognise risk areas and pre-plan effectively.

The City has repeatedly appealed to members of the public to be careful of starting fires, to be vigilant and to report fires if they spot them. “Many people are reluctant to report fires because they think that someone else has done so. The faster a fire is reported, the faster the City can respond,” says Schnetler.

There are also prohibitions in place on the making of fires in the open air across the Western Cape, due to extraordinary fire hazards. This includes the burning of rubbish or any other material for purposes of disposal – this action is illegal.

Fires can occur anywhere – in informal settlements and in formal structures. To reduce the risk of fires, please note and apply the following tips:

• *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

The City of Cape Town is once again a title sponsor of the Suidoosterfees, an annual celebration of art and culture.

This year’s Suidoosterfees festival takes place at Artscape from 26-31 January.

“This is the fifth year of City involvement and sponsorship of the festival. It started off very small, but the extent of the City’s contribution has been escalating and in the last two years has become formalised, in terms of cash and services,” said Fritz Marx, Manager: Protocol & Events: Executive Mayor’s Office.

Marx said the City has made a cash contribution of R500 000 from its arts and culture grant-in-aid programme.

“The Executive Mayor’s Office has also budgeted an additional R300 000 for the printing of posters, pamphlets, the programme booklet, street flags, and services such as traffic, waste removal, and cleansing that are all linked to the festival.

“The rationale for the City’s contribution is that this is an inner city festival – there are not a lot of them around – and it has rejuvenated and created an economic incentive for this part of city. Also, it’s a very diverse festival – from performing arts to film to music to serious theatre. It promotes local talent.”

Marx said the opening ball of the festival is named the Mayor’s Ball, in recognition of the City’s role as one of the title sponsors.

Suidoosterfees marketing manager Irmgardt Bonze said the City is “very broadly involved” in not just funding, but also logistics, and helps make the festival happen.

She added that the festival planning is on track, and that they are “ready to go”.

The festival started in 2003. It is now a registered non-profit organisation, and has established itself as an annual event on the country’s arts and culture calendar.

The festival aims to celebrate and develop Western Cape Afrikaans culture and heritage, as well as encourage social diversity and national unity through Afrikaans. Its mission is to be affordable, accessible, and include all race, class, language, religious and age groups.

Ticket prices are kept below R100, but the festival still attracts artists of an international standard.

Dr Niel le Roux, CEO: Die Burger Suidoosterfees, said he is proud of this.

Part of the festival’s outreach includes bringing in farm workers and local gospel and choir groups from across the province.

It also seeks to offer opportunities to develop and nurture young and up-coming artists, and enables them to premiere new works.

The festival has grown remarkably since its inception, with attendance of nearly 20 000 people and ticket sales exceeding R500 000.

The festival features a line-up of entertainment including jazz, classical music, gospel music, theatre, comedy, films, visual arts, books and children’s entertainment.

Well-known stars such as David Kramer, Lira, Sandra Prinsloo, Amanda Strydom, Nomfusi, Alistair Izobell, Neels van Jaarsveld, Gary Naidoo and 7de laan stars, Vinette Ebrahim, Theodore Jantjies, Zane Meas, Christo Davids and Terence Bridgett, to name a few will perform.

For more information: http://www.suidoosterfees.co.za

Martin Pollack

The City of Cape Town invites residents to nominate individuals, organisations or military units for Civic Honours.

Civic Honours, which date back 50 years, are annual awards that the City confers to acknowledge individuals, organisations and military units that have distinguished themselves through extraordinary acts of service, or outstanding contributions to their community and Cape Town.

They were discontinued in 2000, after the amalgamation of Cape Town’s seven smaller municipalities into a single ‘unicity’, and revived six years later to recognise Capetonians who excel in discharging the responsibilities inherent in being a South African citizen. Such people perform outstandingly in upholding the rights of others, serving others above themselves or contributing to nation building through outstanding service and achievements.

The awards are conferred in term of the City’s Civic Honours Policy, which was adopted by Council on 3 December 2008. The policy identifies the following main categories for awards:

Freedom of the City

This award is bestowed on individuals, military units or organisations that have distinguished themselves by their heroic service. There are three living Freemen of the City: State President and Nobel Laureate, Nelson Mandela, Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, and former UWC Chancellor Dr Richard Van Der Ross.

Signing of the Civic Honours Book

The signing of the Civic Honours Book is an invitation to sign or inscribe one’s name against a citation of his/her achievement in the “Civic Honours Book”. This book is kept by the City for future generations to remember Cape Town’s great citizens.

Freedom of Entry into the City

The Freedom of Entry into the City is given to military units to recognise outstanding service given to their country and city. Military units that receive this honour may march through the streets of Cape Town on all ceremonial and other occasions “with swords drawn, bayonets fixed, drums beating and colours flying”.

The Mayor’s Medal

This prestigious award acknowledges outstanding contributions that are voluntarily made by individuals or associations in a number of different fields: community affairs, social affairs and services, cultural affairs, youth affairs, recreation and sport, conservation, economic affairs and extraordinary bravery.

A Civic Honour may be conferred on a living person or in memory of a deceased person. All nominations must be in writing, must indicate the honour to be bestowed and include adequate motivation.

Please submit your nomination to the Office of the Executive Mayor, Private Bag X9181, Cape Town, 8000 or e-mail Levona.Africa[at]capetown.gov.za on or before Friday 19 February 2010. A copy of the policy may be obtained by dialling 021 400 5841.

Martin Pollack

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

The City of Cape Town’s environmental sustainability is no longer the responsibility of only the Department of Environmental Resource Management (ERM).

“The revised Integrated Metropolitan Environmental Policy (IMEP), now called the City Environmental Agenda (currently in draft format), puts resource management and sustainability at the core of all the City’s activities,” says Osman Asmal (director, ERM) in his message to enviroWORKS readers.

“The City Environmental Agenda now builds on the progress made by the first IMEP (Integrated Metropolitan Environmental Policy) by stepping up the City’s environmental commitment from mere principles to specific measurable environmental targets and goals.”

enviroWORKS is the City’s environmental newsletter, and includes news, information and stories about environmental and sustainability projects and policies throughout the metro areas – from water services, education and climate change to transport, biodiversity, nature reserves and urban planning.

The June 2009 issue looks at (among other things) a schools’ project to audit energy and water use; local companies that are working together to change the way in which they use the earth’s resources; new threats to endangered species in the Western Cape; and improved conditions for bicycle commuters.

To download a copy of EnviroWORKS, visit ‘Publications’ and ‘Brochures and Booklets’.

Martin Pollack