Substance abuse, negligence spark many Cape fires
Substance abuse and negligence feature prominently as causes of fires in Cape Town‚ statistics for the last 3½ years show.
The City of Cape Town’s fire and rescue service said it was gravely concerned by the trends emerging from fire fatality statistics gathered over the last few years.
Between January 2015 and June 2018‚ there were 511 firerelated fatalities in Cape Town. Of these:
● 53% of the victims were men;
● 46% of fatalities happened over weekends; and
● 58% of fatalities occurred between midnight and 6am.
“We’ve indicated time and again that negligence and substance abuse play a role in a number of fires our staff respond to,” the city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security and social services JP Smith said.
“This statistical analysis supports this assertion‚ which means we will have to further increase our public education and awareness drives.
“We also appeal to the public to assist us by being more vigilant around flammable materials at all times.”
Smith said in the last financial year‚ the fire and rescue service had seen a reduction in vegetation fires‚ but increases in other categories‚ including residential, building and transport-related fires.
“The building and transport fires are directly linked to the increase in protest action we’ve witnessed over the past year and include the apparent arson attacks targeting Metrorail‚” Smith said.
“What’s of interest is the increase in fires at formal residential properties.
“While there has been a slight increase in the number of fires at informal dwellings‚ there has been a near 50% drop in the number of dwellings affected.
“This speaks to a greater awareness around fire safety, but there is still much work to be done.”
Building safety in respect of fires has been in the spotlight in recent weeks.
The city’s fire life safety inspectorate conducted almost 1‚700 building inspections in the last financial year and responded to 280 complaints.
They issued 1‚281 written notices for contraventions of bylaws.