Gearing up to fight seasonal infernos

It is a tragic fact that fires cause significant devastation and loss of life in Cape Town at this time of year. Authorities have prioritised the building of a safe city for all residents, not only by making substantial improvements to the metro police and the traffic and law enforcement services but also through a turn-around of Fire and Rescue Services.

Over the last few years, the city has prioritised improvements to this section, which has seen a cash injection of R84 million since 2007. This has enabled, among other things, the provision of 20 new fire engines, new rapid-response rescue vehicles and water tankers. The service has also taken on more staff; 120 contract firefighting posts were made permanent last year. Provision has also been made to recruit additional firefighters. The overall increase of professional firefighters over the past four years exceeds 250. It is planned to increase this number by 200 over the next five years.

The seasonal firefighter budget has been doubled and the city now employs 120 seasonal firefighters.

The city has invested extensively in the Epping Fire and Emergency Training College, which has achieved full accreditation and expanded its range of training facilities. The city boasts three additional fire stations.

The city now has 30 fire stations staffed on a 24-hour basis, with a higher concentration in areas covering major informal settlements.

These measures have contributed to reducing the city’s response times to fires and other emergencies.

The influx of people to the city has risen significantly, resulting in the expansion of dwellings in informal and low-cost formal areas, including backyard structures.

Over the past few years we have seen a reduction in informal dwelling units destroyed by fires – down from 8 864 in 2005 to 3 009 in 2010. But deaths in informal structures remain relatively stable.

The city’s human settlements directorate reports that the maximum density of structures should be 40 dwellings per hectare, but Cape Town has double that. The practice of building structures too close together limits access by emergency services, blocks escape routes and hampers firefighting efforts. Regular awareness programmes are ongoing. Our teams has built four mock informal structures adjacent to each other with varying spaces between them to demonstrate how rapidly the fire is likely to spread when structures are too close to each other.

The sad reality is that a fire can start in one structure and spread to others before the fire service is even called. The space between the homes ultimately makes the difference between a tragic fire in only one structure and a conflagration that engulfs a neighbourhood.

Vandalism of fire hydrants is another serious problem. Firefighters are forced to rely on the water in their fire engine and the back-up water tankers. It is not uncommon to find equipment being stolen while a fire is being fought. During a fire in Langa this weekend a firefighter was assaulted.

In addition to the inestimable cost in life and suffering, there is a monetary challenge. One large informal settlement fire in May cost the city more than R1.7 million in firefighting operations, and a further R16m in rehabilitation due to infrastructure damage.

We have reached the point where we need to adapt measures over and above investment in the fire service itself. Fire and Rescue Services and the Disaster Risk Management Centre established a fire task team which has been developing a strategy to protect residents from fires. This strategy features five key elements – “the four Es and one R”.

Emergency preparedness is the first. In the past the city distributed buckets, whistles and pamphlets and tested the use of a firefighting container equipped with the necessary firefighting equipment, but within three weeks the equipment had been stolen and vandalised. The city is now investigating the distribution, via fire safety training staff, of one extinguisher to every informal settlement household in high-risk areas. This would be expensive and budget-dependent, but we believe it would allow residents to stop a small fire in their household before it engulfs their home or spreads to neighbouring structures.

The mayor’s office is assisting with funding for the emergency acquisition of new foam-based extinguishers. In the same way that we are seeking to help each household protect itself, we also want to develop the capacity of residents to help the more vulnerable members of their neighbourhood.

The city has begun developing a volunteer and reservist corps, which includes the expansion of the existing disaster risk management volunteers and the initiation, by June, of a fire reservist corps. This investment in volunteers and capacity-building requires budgeting for training and equipment. Preparedness also involves Disaster Risk Management Centre volunteers clearing, servicing and marking fire hydrants.

The second element of the strategy is education. Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) funding will play a role in our ability to expand the reach of our fire safety initiatives to all parts of the city.

Engineering and technology investments are required and, as the third element of the strategy, officials are working with NGOs to explore the feasibility of introducing safer SABS-approved renewable energy products in respect of lighting, cooking, charging cellphones and powering radios. The use of an affordable fire-retardant paint is also being explored.

The fourth element is enforcement – preventing unlawful land invasions, ensuring adequate water servitudes and fire hydrants, and introducing adequate fire breaks between structures in informal settlements and backyard dwellings.

The last element is rehabilitation. The recent spate of tragic fires gives us the opportunity to ensure residents reconstruct their homes in a safer manner. This might require revisions in the community fire safety by-law and a process is underway with human settlements and Fire and Rescue Services officials to drive this over the next few months.

Over the remainder of this financial year, emergency services will launch experimental pilot projects to assist residents. The city will:

l Supply hand-held portable fire extinguishers.

l Provide additional educational material highlighting safe practices when using cooking, heating and lighting devices.

l Experiment with fire-retardant products, layouts and designs for informal homes, and implement EPWP-based projects in fire-awareness initiatives.

l JP Smith is the mayoral committee member for safety and security for the City of Cape Town.