Firefighter death inquiry results out

THE internal inquiry into the death of a Bulawayo City Council (BCC) firefighter who was burnt while fighting a veld fire at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) have laid the blame on poor supervisory duties on the day in question.

The local authority has also partially attributed the mishap on the late firefighter — Fanyana Dick Shuluma — for failure to properly use some of the firefighting protection equipment. The firefighter, who is survived by a wife, two sons and a daughter, died two days after the incident at Mater Dei Hospital.

The findings of the internal inquiry are likely to torch a storm as the deceased’s family has been questioning circumstances leading to the veteran firefighting who had been in the field for 24 years. The controversy surrounding Mr Shuluma’s death also saw retired Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Mr Richard Peterson airing his views saying it was impossible for a firefighter of Shuluma’s calibre who served for nearly a quarter of a century to have been burnt by a veldfire to the extent of dying.

According to findings of the internal inquiry, which was made up of officials from council’s Human Capital Department, Health Services Department, Housing and Community Services Department and the Chamber Secretary’s Department, it was established that the Fire Brigade crew, among other issues, failed to use provided radio communication equipment among themselves.

“The committee noted that the supervisor, Mr Manob Zhou did not execute his duties conscientiously. He worked on an assumption of the trainee that the late Mr Shuluma had joined the other group and withdrew one from the deceased’s crew without consultation. Upon realising that one employee was missing, procedurally the supervisor was supposed to suspend operations until the missing employee was accounted for,” reads the report.

The committee further noted that the now deceased also failed to use some of his provided protection equipment hence the severe burns. It was reportedly discovered that while Shuluma had the full gear on, on inspection it was seen that the visor was not pulled down to protect his face.

“Non-use of the face visor by the deceased contributed to the severity of the injuries on face. Failure by the brigade crew to use the provided radio communication equipment also hindered effective distant communication among the teams. As a result, the deceased was unable to signal distress early for rescue. The strength and the unanticipated shift in the direction of the wind may have impaired the employee’s judgement of the fire direction and also the presence of tall dry grass in the area of operation fuelled the fire. Furthermore, the thicket may also have been a hindrance to the employee’s safe escape from the fire,” reads part of the report.

According to the incident report, on the day in question the firefighters had been divided into three groups with three members each, with the first group assigned to fight the fire from the first Nust gate, the second group in the middle of the burning area near the Nust ablution facilities and the third group was to do controlled burning moving towards the road leading to the second gate.

“The late employee was in the third group and by virtue of being the most senior he was the sector commander. The other members of his team were Ms Buhlebethu Ngwenya, a trainee firefighter and Mr Khohlwani Moyo, a firefighter. They were deployed in such a manner that they follow one another with Mr Moyo leading and the now deceased at the tail end of the formation. A few minutes later Mr Zhou summoned Mr Moyo to leave his team and come and assist him. Mr Zhou decided to leave Mr Moyo to go and monitor progress from the other teams. On his way he met trainee firefighter Buhlebenkosi Ngwenya on her own and enquired about the whereabouts of Shuluma to which the trainee firefighter said they assumed Shuluma had joined the other team,” reads the report.

The team was later informed by the Nust security personnel that they had heard screams for help which upon investigations turned out to be Shuluma.