The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services will be expanding its reservist complement by an additional 27 members, and at the start of the fire season in December, approximately 80 reservists will be available to complement the permanent fire-fighting staff.
The additional resources will help beef up the fire-fighting capacity of 30 fire stations which have just under 1 000 fire-fighters (including officers) currently. This complement of fire-fighters covers the total area of the City of Cape Town, i.e. 2 461 square kilometres with a population of more than 3,7 million people.
A fire-fighter’s capability goes far beyond the scope of just fighting fires. On any given day fire departments could be called upon to assist with medical and trauma incidents such as motor vehicle accidents, assaults and gunshot wounds, suicide attempts, drowning and burns.
Add to that any incidents involving hazardous material on the road or rail and gas leaks and the numerous fires they are called upon to extinguish, including structural fires; fires on vehicles, ships, trains and aircraft; vegetation and rubbish fires especially during the dry summer season; and of course occasionally rescuing pets.
During 2011 and 2012, the number of incidents (including fires and special service calls) ranged from about 3 500 to over 4 000, with a drop in number between the months of April to September.
However, even though the fire-fighters are always ready to protect the residents of Cape Town, they still make time to collect clothing, blankets and food items for disaster relief.
“Fire Services provide a critical service and, given the number of incidents they have to attend to, the complement of reservists help support the teams when most needed.
“The reservist training affords ordinary citizens the opportunity to benefit their communities. Reservists will be performing the work in their own communities so they will be perfectly placed to educate their neighbours about fire safety. This harnessing of existing volunteer interest has the added benefit of making education about fire safety easier – which is a huge issue in many of our communities,” says the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman J.P. Smith.
Reservist fire-fighters volunteer their time and services to assist the permanent staff. These fire-fighters will, over time, receive full training to assist the permanent fire-fighters during incidents such as fires and motor vehicle accidents. They will also receive full personal protective clothing in order to carry out their functions.
