Ill-equipped firefighters worried by dry season
MBABANE – Local communities face devastating effects of wildfires as the government’s fire-fighting department has shortage of equipment and manpower.
Eswatini is currently entering the dry winter season, which is normally the busiest time of the year for firefighters. This is because the season has a number of fire incidents, which are mostly accidental and man-made. These are wildfires started by uncontrolled fires from cigarettes and timbawula.
In 2019, the country lost over E4 million investments due to wildfires that affected forestry companies. These were fires that were started by loose cigarettes and people who were trying to harvest honey in some forest companies, including Montigny investments. The effects of the fires also affected Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC), where poles were burnt and power lines interrupted.
Over the days, the National Fire Rescue and Emergency Services (NFRES), in partnership with stakeholders, have been increasing the awareness on fire prevention, more especially during the April to July season, where the fires are usually at peak.
In as much as the government department and its stakeholders were creating awareness, the country still has a shortage of response equipment and human resources. Firefighters in different fire stations in the country have complained about the shortage of personnel. The employees stated that they were strained because their shifts had fewer firefighters.
Due to the number of vacancies, the employees said they felt the pinch during the peak season, more especially on days when they had to respond to a lot of fires because their groups had fewer numbers. “We usually work in groups of three instead of five or seven,” said another firefighter.
Adding to the shortage of human resource, the employees stated that there was a shortage of vehicles that were crucial in fighting fires. “We have a shortage of Land Cruiser vehicles, which are suitable for mountainous terrains and in off-road situations,” said another firefighter.
Clothing
The employees said they did not have proper protective clothing for the tasks they had to perform during fires. Another employee mentioned that some of the available vehicles were old and some functions within them were not operating properly. They complained that the intercommunications services within the vehicles were sometimes not working. “There is a mix-up in the vehicle intercommunication services, and that makes our work difficult,” said another employee. One of the officers mentioned that in some stations, employees were asked to donate towards fixing some of the vehicles.
Meanwhile, the National Public Service Workers and Allied Union’s (NAPSAWU) Vusi Dlamini, said government had been engaged on several occasions regarding the several issues that engulfed the sector. Worth noting, on March 29, firefighters held a meeting at Mbabane Fire Station, where they raised a number of issues. They also complained about the shortage of basic toiletries in the several fire stations and depots in the country. The employees said the structures in this service were dilapidated. They stated that standby officers were starved as food took longer to be delivered and by the time it got to them, it was spoilt.
Eswatini has eight fire stations. These stations are at Mbabane, Manzini, Matsapha, Nhlangano, Siteki, Lobamba and Siphofaneni. For the 2023/2024 financial year, government budgeted around E123 million for fire stations. At least E78 million is budgeted for administrative and supplies while E48 million is for running the fire stations. In the previous year, the budget was E103 million.
In a meeting that firefighters had with Divisional Officer Dumisani Malinga, the employees questioned why their department recorded over 50 per cent under-expenditure of its budget. They said they were shocked to learn that the ministry, in its quarterly and annual reports, had been flaunting that it had made savings of over 50 per cent in some of its responsibility areas.
The employees said what irked them the most was that these savings were recorded at the expense of services and working conditions. One of the employees cited that the sector recorded over E21 million that was underutilised under personal costs. The employee said the E21 million was supposed to be used to pay their overtime.
Ambulances
Another employee wondered how it was possible for the service to record over 30 per cent spending on consumables such as medical drugs while ambulances within the service did not have first aid kits. The firefighters said they attend to accident scenes without personal protective equipment (PPE) and first aid kits. Due to the alarming rates of fires in this season, some companies like Montigny Investments Limited have fire rescue teams that respond to fires in their forests and surrounding areas.
Government has responded to some of the challenges that have engulfed the NFRES.
According to the Public Relations Officer Mandla Dlamini, the service has started repairing some of the vehicles that had mechanical problems. He said there was a shortage of other vehicles like Land Cruisers that are used to navigate slopes and mostly used when responding to wildfires.
Coming to the issue of uniforms Dlamini said they had started distributing them, mostly the one used when responding to fire emergencies. “By the end of this month we will be advertising vacancies,” he said.
Dlamini said there was light at the end of the tunnel where vacancies were concerned. Normally, firefighters are trained for a period not less than four months. This means the firefighters that would be hired in the coming month would complete their training after the fire season. Dlamini stated that even though their training would be completed after the fire season, they would be able to engage them in fire response incidents. He said normally after two months of training, firefighters were deployed in fire incidents.
Despite the challenges the PRO noted that most fires were man-made. He said compared to the statistics, only few fires were caused by natural events like lightning. He noted that last year during the fire season, they responded to 483 wildfires and around 30 household fires.
He said all these fires were caused by people. For that reason, he urged people to practise precautions when it came to incidents that may cause fires. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Communications Mangaer, Wandile Mavuso, said fires had proven to be a very common disaster in the Kingdom of Eswatini.