The acquisition of a range of new and replacement vehicles includes four specialised turntable ladders – the only ones on the continent.
The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service has taken a bold step forward in terms of its ability to fight fires and save lives, with the acquisition of a range of new and replacement vehicles over a two-year period.
In the previous financial year, the Service took delivery of 99 vehicles, including four 56 metre heavy duty mobile aerial firefighting/rescue lift turntable ladders.
The appliances are able to rescue 18 people at a time from a 22 storey building within 12 minutes via its lift system. They are also equipped with firefighting equipment and a cage to assist in extinguishing fires in high rise buildings.
Other vehicles acquired include water tankers, rescue vehicles and vehicles used for the Fire and Life Safety Section.
In this financial year, the Fire and Rescue Service will receive an additional 34 vehicles, including foam tankers.
‘The Fire and Rescue Service does so much more than fight fires. Over time, it has evolved into a fully-fledged emergency service, responding to a wide range of calls including hazardous materials incidents, motor vehicle accidents, trauma and assault cases, structural collapse incidents, water rescues and even rescuing persons trapped in lifts during power outages.
‘As a growing city, we need to ensure that our resources are up to scratch, and that is why we have made this investment in our Fire and Rescue Service, to help them deal effectively with the thousands of calls received every year. It has been a long, hard road and there is much more work to be done, but we will keep investing in our Safety and Security Directorate as best we can,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
Apart from the investment in additional vehicles, the Fire and Rescue Service is also ramping up its resources in the sky and on the ground to cope with the demands of the warmer months.
As has become the custom, the Service will have aerial support on standby from December to assist with fire spotting and water-bombing of fires, particularly in the mountainous areas where firefighters cannot access.
The Service is also in the process of finalising the recruitment of just more than 100 seasonal firefighters.
The seasonals have become a fixture on the calendar between December and April, to assist with the large number of vegetation fires that occur during this time.
‘Each year, we have thousands of hopefuls who attend our seasonal firefighting trials, but due to the lockdown this year, we have had to take a different approach. So, to ensure that we have the boots on the ground in time for deployment, the Fire Service has reached out to previous seasonal firefighters to check on their availability and willingness to participate in an amended assessment process. Our seasonal firefighters lend a big helping hand to their permanent colleagues on the frontlines, and I thank those who heeded the call to try out during these unprecedented times,’ added Alderman Smith.