City intensifies winter safety drive to save lives

29 June 2016

 

The City of Johannesburg wants its residents, especially those living in informal settlements, to be safe this and every winter.

 

The Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS), one of its public safety entities, has over the past few weeks been rolling out its annual winter safety campaign to provide residents with vital information on how to prevent the outbreak of fires, which often result in extensive damage to property, injuries and/or fatalities.

On Tuesday June 28 City and EMS officials took the campaign to Lily’s Bioscope informal settlement in Zone 2 Meadowlands, Soweto, in Region D, going from door to door to educate residents on how to stay warm but safe this winter.

EMS Spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the City was always looking for ways to keep residents safe. He said EMS officials also gave residents basic fire and safety training and encouraged them to form community emergency teams that would be equipped with critical knowledge on what to do in the event of an emergency.

“We’re proud that after residents have been trained they can deal with fires no matter how big or small,” said Mulaudzi.

“One of our main concerns is that residents put lit candles on beer or cool drink crates. That’s dangerous because when the candle topples over it will most likely start a fire. Fires spread quickly in informal settlements because the shacks are built so close to each other,” said Mulaudzi.

At the weekend Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Cllr Nonceba Molwele rushed to the aid of nine families at Zammpilo informal settlement in Soweto who had been left homeless and destitute after their shacks had been destroyed by fire. The residents lost all their valuable belongings but no fatalities or injuries were reported.

Nomvula Dlame of the Citizen Relationship and Urban Management (CRUM) Department in Region D said the City’s ongoing winter safety campaign had helped to significantly reduce the number of fatalities and injuries caused by fires in informal settlements, mostly as a result of toppled over candles and paraffin stoves.

Pearl Mokoena of the Be Safe Centre in Dube, Soweto, said it was crucial to roll out the safety campaign in informal settlements every year as new people arrived to live there.

During Tuesday’s campaign, residents were advised to, among other things:

• Install smoke detectors in their shacks so they can be alerted of a fire and can be in a position to put it out timeously;

• Ensure that cigarettes are put off before they go to bed;

• Buy paraffin stoves that automatically switch off when they are knocked over;

• Put candles in old jam jars half-filled with sand; and

• Take braziers outside before they go to sleep.

The campaign will move to Ezimbuzini informal settlement, also in Region D, on Thursday June 30.