Metro fire stations found to be in woeful condition
Once powerful fleet broken down by age
FIRE stations in Buffalo City Metro (BCM) are in an appalling condition, and its 30-strong fleet 20 years ago is now limping along with only four firefighting machines.
This week, Saturday Dispatch was sent pictures by DA councillor Sue Bentley, after she visited five of the seven stations around the metro and found:
Dimbaza station had stopped functioning but was reopened within 24 hours of Saturday Dispatch querying this;
Greenfields station, serving industrial areas and suburbs, has one battered old Land Cruiser for bush fires;
A major pumper at Fleet Street has such a bad leak that firefighters must fill it after they get a call-out. The department, through city spokesman Sibusiso Cindi, said it only took “three minutes” to fill;
Paint is peeling from walls, furniture is falling apart, weeds are proliferating, doors don’t work, and while the public, especially businesses, must comply with fire regulations regarding fire extinguishers, the only sign of them on the walls in the stations, are the signs of where they should be;
The new R12-million King William’s Town station has a 14-point “snag” list of items to repair, including a wall which leans out 22cm at the top, the generator, airconditioners and toilets don’t work, doors, including the large front door, are not working or are loose, there are leaks in the geyser, gutters, and roof, and burglar gates are already rusting off their hinges. This is also according to a recent memo from the health and safety emergency services acting head of department Steve Terwin, discussed at a portfolio committee on Thursday;
Bentley and her team discovered a R7.5-million highly-specced Turkishbuilt Volkan aerial platform fire truck parked forlornly in a second-hand lot near Gonubie.
In 2014, Saturday Dispatch was given a demonstration of how the two Volkans were able to work – which failed dismally.
The other Volkan has fallen on its side and is damaged and out of the picture. They were bought in 2011.
Cindi says one is “still on [receiving] major repairs by Marce and the one is waiting for payment to be released”.
Cindi said despite facing challenges “that are now being attended to, the Dimbaza fire station has been operational as from the 10th March 2017 [yesterday]”.
Cindi said that “some fixing that needed to be done” was “held up because of supply chain processes that sometimes take longer than anticipated”.
This included a formal tender to buy chairs for “some” stations which was also sent to supply chain management “to advertise”.
He said the contractor who built the King William’s Town fire station was “not blacklisted”. — mikel@dispatch.co.za