The fire department responded to 139 incidents in Mitchells Plain between April and June 30.

This formed part of 5 867 incidents across the city which the municipality’s 32 fire stations responded to during the same period. This was also down from 8 974 the previous quarter, said fire officer Franscois Boks. He was presenting the fire department’s quarterly report to Subcouncil 12 on Thursday 27 August.

Boks presented a synopsis of the department’s activities during the quarter, including staff increases, the main causes of fires and the region’s preparation for the expected El Nino event.

“We made plans for the El Nino that is happening this year,” Boks said, adding that for the department the summer season has already begun. “El Nino, in a nutshell, is when every five to seven years the weather changes and these are extraordinary weather changes. So we are expecting a very, very sunny summer season for the fire department.”

Rubbish fires a main concern

A major concern is rubbish fires, Boks said.

“A dumping site that attracts the rats and what people do is they burn the rubbish to get rid of the rats,” he said. “And that calls us out.”

The department is urging the community not to make unnecessary fires as the season ahead is expected to be much drier than usual.

More staff and water tankers

The department has brought in additional staff on both permanent and contract bases, with roughly 300 additional people joining its ranks, Manual said.

Of these, 25 firefighters started on 1 August, with more starting in October and November. An additional 121 firefighters will start in November and December, Boks said.

The current staff complement stands at 1 311, with 62 vacancies recently filled, with 284 positions still vacant.

Report broken equipment

The department has also acquired additional water tankers.

Boks stressed the importance of reporting broken fire equipment through the C3 notification system so that staff can repair it. He said that the department was forced to rely on water tankers because of the large number of broken hydrants that went unreported.

“70% of the tim,e it’s not working,” he said.

“So it is really, really important that we do that,” he said, referring to reporting broken hydrants. “Because it can be the difference between one house burning or five.”

Lentegeur ward councillor Avron Plaaitjies asked how regularly the repair teams serviced hydrants and Boks explained that it was serviced region by region on a monthly basis.

Across the city, 2 471 fire hydrants were serviced during the quarter. Of 318 faulty hydrant notifications referred to the Water and Sanitation department, 238 have been closed.

“In Tafelsig alone, there are about 100 hydrants,” he said. “Teams clean and check the water pressure at each one.”

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