City rolls out more smoke detectors in settlements
21 November 2016
The City of Johannesburg is continuing to roll out smoke detectors in the various informal settlements across the metropolis as part of its drive to drastically reduce incidences of shack fires and the resultant injuries and fatalities.
On Saturday, November 19, the City’s Emergency Management Services (EMS) equipped 50 homes in Mbhele Section in Zandspruit, Region C, with the life-saving devices.
Although shack fires are more prevalent in winter, the EMS is not taking any chances as people in informal settlements do not have access to electricity and rely on paraffin stoves for cooking, according to Johannesburg EMS Spokesman Robert Mulaudzi.
The City aims to install smoke detectors in all the 189 informal settlements within its jurisdiction. It seeks to provide more than 3 000 smoke detectors in vulnerable communities over the next three years.
More than 1 000 smoke detectors have already been installed in many informal settlements and 148 old age homes have benefited so far from the programme.
The smoke alarm systems can detect smoke in less than 15 seconds. This does not only help to quickly raise the alarm during a fire hazard, but it also lessens the level of smoke inhalation, resulting in reduced fire injuries and fatalities.
The majority of fire-related deaths occur at night and the victims are often small children and the elderly.
The smoke detectors provide an-all important early warning of fire, allowing people time to escape.
“The biggest killer in a home fire is smoke when people are asleep and cannot wake up from smoke inhalation,” says Mulaudzi. “If a home fire does occur, the toxic smoke can cause the occupants to go into an even deeper sleep, until breathing stops altogether.”
Mulaudzi says the City is serious about safety in high-risk communities. “Fire safety is everyone’s responsibility. We hope that this initiative will help communities understand that fires can be prevented.”
He says the 50 Mbhele households equipped with smoke detectors on Saturday were trained by EMS officers in basic fire-fighting and First Aid and drafted into the Community Emergency Response Team.
“This initiative is part of the EMS’s commitment to building communities that are resilient to disasters, and fire and medical emergencies,” he remarks.
Zandspruit resident Mbali Majola was so happy to be provided with a smoke detector as her shack was once razed by fire. “We really struggled to rebuild our shacks. Now we’ll know when there’s a fire before it starts,” said Majola.
She said the smoke detector would give her peace of mind.