Western Cape Disaster Management officials spent over 3 million rand on assisting Cape Town shack dwellers over the second half of 2007.
In that time, Cape Town Fire and rescue services responded to 841 blazes in informal settlements. These included false alarms.
While the cause of most of the blazes is unknown there are suspicions that many of them were started by unattended candles or Paraffin Stoves.
Meanwhile, the Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa says their awareness programmes are paying off. The association's Patrick Kulati says communities they work with seem to be more cautious than they were a year ago.
Kulati says the key is educating shack dwellers about the danger unattended stoves and candles can cause. - 567 Cape Talk
In that time, Cape Town Fire and rescue services responded to 841 blazes in informal settlements. These included false alarms.
Between July and December more than 8 thousand people were displaced in shack fires in Cape Town alone. Disaster Management supplied them with meals setting the City back more than two hundred thousand rand.
While the cause of most of the blazes is unknown there are suspicions that many of them were started by unattended candles or Paraffin Stoves.
Meanwhile, the Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa says their awareness programmes are paying off. The association's Patrick Kulati says communities they work with seem to be more cautious than they were a year ago.
Kulati says the key is educating shack dwellers about the danger unattended stoves and candles can cause. - 567 Cape Talk
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