The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini calls on the City’s Acting Manager, Sipho Cele, to urgently implement a plan of action amid the deteriorating state of fire stations across the municipality.
In a recent informal enquiry by the DA, shocking details of an embattled, crippled fire department within the various fire stations in the Municipality emerged.
This critical department seems to be almost completely debilitated with failures, by what can only be deemed as gross mismanagement, resulting in shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), delays in procurement of uniforms, non-roadworthy fleet, unlicensed fire engines, damaged infrastructure and frozen posts among others. The newly built Verulam Fire station remains closed for a number of the above reasons.
A series of questions put to the council meeting was conveniently excluded from last week’s sitting, as clearly there are no satisfactory answers.
Reports have come in from credible sources of the challenges in the Tongaat, Verulam, Umhlanga, Ntuzuma, Phoenix, and Durban North Fire stations.
Challenges faced by these fire stations include:
- Defective plumbing, air-conditioners and rear gates,
- Poor general station maintenance
- Nil supply of oxygen cylinders for emergencies
- The Verulam fire station, which is a brand new facility, remains closed due to an indefinite moratorium on staff recruitment
- Lack of PPE and uniforms,
- Lack of roadworthy fleet and non-roadworthy rescue pumpers resulting in a panel van used as a fire engine
- Lack of necessary firefighting equipment
There are no urgency or compulsion by officials or city leadership to remedy the situation after all of the above was duly brought to the fore. Instead, the adjustment budget contained a reprioritisation of funds to the tune of R6,5m originally earmarked for specialist firefighting vehicles being redirected for the two contentious struggle statues.
Also, a further sum of R1.3m was adjusted away from purchasing vehicles to the benefit of beaches and museums. During the pandemic, statues, beaches and museums were non-essential. Firefighting services on the other hand are the difference between life and death for many communities, especially those ravaged by frequent shack fires.
The Democratic Alliance has pledged to fight for the serious failings in this critical unit to be fixed and will demand a response, tangible remedial action with timelines.