For the families and communities of the 126 people who lost their lives in shack fires this year there may yet be hope in the fight against fires on the Cape Flats.
Yesterday, the City of Cape Town launched a pilot project, distributing 1 000 hand-held fire extinguishers worth R85 000 in Joe Slovo township in Langa Zone 30, 31 and 32.
News of the dramatic entrance of Mayor Patricia de Lille and her entourage in Zone 32 spread fast and a crowd of nearly 100 emerged to hear her.
As members of the community stood in the pouring rain, mayoral committee member for community safety JP Smith told the community they were “special” because they were the first community to receive the hand-held devices. De Lille said the fire extinguishers would enable residents to take “immediate action and help deal with small fires at the incipient stage”.
“It is difficult for fire engines to come in between structures,” she said, saying the small extinguishers were essential to prevent fires spreading.
“Every year, we see many of our community lose all their belongings in a fire, sometimes even people’s lives.
“There is no money that can buy a person’s life. We will explore the possibility of expanding the project to other informal settlements that are prone to fires once we have measured its effectiveness.
“The portable fire extinguishers are part of the city’s ongoing plans to supplement awareness and education programmes, bolstering prevention strategies of our Fire and Rescue Services,” De Lille said.
The project is funded by the Mayoral Special Projects Fund.
Recent interventions by the city include increasing the number of city fire stations to 30 (all of which are open 24 hours a day) and appointing seasonal firefighters to enhance the capacity to deal with fires, particularly during the high-risk summer period.
Educational material highlighting safe practices around the use of fires, cooking, heating and lighting devices have been made available and an Expanded Public Works Programme-based project to help mitigate the risk of fire has been implemented, De Lille said.
She said they would also be launching an awareness campaign.
“The city will continue to monitor how effective (the fire extinguishers are) and will continue the roll-out to other communities,” she said.
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