Court battle over St Francis blaze
Concerns raised in report three years before inferno
THREE years before a blaze that levelled more than 70 houses in St Francis Bay, the district municipality requested a report on its fire readiness – and it showed that the small coastal town was significantly underprepared.
Now the Sarah Baartman District Municipality and the Kouga Local Municipality are stuck in a legal battle in which St Francis Bay residents, and their insurance providers, are claiming millions of rands in damage to property due to a fire in 2012 that destroyed dozens of luxury homes.
According to the court application, the residents believe the municipality shirked its duty by not having sufficient fire safety measures in place.
Rural Metro, a company that specialises in fire safety assessments and firefighter training, compiled the 2009 report for the municipality.
Yesterday, in the Port Elizabeth High Court, the company’s manager in charge of communications and fire safety, Des Mullen, called St Francis Bay “a firefighter’s nightmare”.
In his report, Mullen cited the South African Bureau of Standards’ SANS 10090 – which outlines public fire safety standards – and said an area like St Francis Bay needed to employ about 32 permanent firefighters, with at least two fully equipped fire-fighting vehicles, instead of the four volunteer firemen there in 2009.
He also said the Kouga Local Municipality needed at least three more fire stations, as well as a long list of vehicles, equipment and officials, to comply with SANS 10090.
Mullen told the court he visited St Francis Bay during his safety assessment, and the combination of closeproximity thatch roofs, the canals between houses, and the lack of a properly equipped fire station in close proximity was a great concern.
And there was little evidence that the town’s preparedness had improved before the 2012 blaze.
Under cross-examination by Advocate Ben Ford, representing the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Mullen conceded that SANS 10090 was not a law, but served more as a safety guideline, meaning the municipality was not legally obligated to comply.
Ford further pointed out that adhering to SANS 10090 would have massive financial implications for the municipality, and Mullen agreed that the extra cost involved made its compliance improbable.
However, responding to a question from Advocate Alan Boulle, representing the St Francis Bay residents, Mullen said his report did not need to be followed to the letter, but pointed out measures the municipality could have improved to better prepare itself for a fire like the one in 2012.
The case continues today.