Winter fire deaths decrease

WITH winter almost at an end, the number of fires in Cape Town, particularly in informal settlements, has decreased markedly compared to last year.

However, the number of deaths has increased – with 189 since the beginning of this year and 129 deaths for the whole of last year.

Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said firefighters responded to 120 fewer incidents in 2019 compared to 2018, which represented a drop of 7.5%.

Carelse said fire fatalities were recorded in at least five informal settlements in July this year, compared to seven over the same period last year.

Since the start of the year, the provincial health department’s forensic pathology services said it had recorded 189 deaths caused by burn wounds.

In July last year, the City’s Fire and Rescue Service responded to a total of 1 550 incidents. Of these, 850 were special service calls, such as motor vehicle accidents, trauma incidents and rescue efforts. The other 672 were fire calls. However, last month the service responded to 1466 incidents, of which special service incidents were 711 and fire calls totalled 586.

According to the deputy director of communications at the Western Cape Health Department, Mark van der Heever, Eerste River Hospital treated 10 patients with burn wounds last year, while Tygerberg Hospital treated 242 patients with burn wounds.

Since January this year, Eerste River Hospital had treated 33 patients with burn wounds and Tygerberg Hospital had treated 93 patients.

Marikana ward 35 councillor Mboniswa Chita said that of the 13 shack fire incidents they had recorded since the start of the year, only four victims died as a result.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said too many fires were still caused by human error or negligence, and the increase in heat sources during the winter made things more challenging.