An oversight to the Waterberg District Fire Station revealed that it is not prepared for fire breakouts in Thabazimbi.
The oversight revealed concerning shortcomings in the fire station’s operations, including:
- Only 6 firefighters and a supervisor are in its employment and 2 have to work per shift.
- Only one fire truck is functional.
- A fire truck, Toyota bakkie and an Iveco rescue vehicle all have mechanical problems. This was reported to the Waterberg District Municipality months ago to no avail. (See photos here and here)
This longstanding view of the DA was further confirmed when two fires recently broke out in Thabazimbi. The fire station was unable to assist and great financial damage followed.
The Thabazimbi Animal Rescue (TAR) founder’s house, which houses rescue animals, went up in flames on 21 April 2022. On arrival, the firefighters could not assist because there was equipment missing from the fire truck. Luckily, the community doused the flames.
On 9 May 2022 – less than three weeks after the fire at TAR – the De Lange’s house on the Marakele road also caught fire. (See photos here and here). The Waterberg District Fire Department was called, but was a no-show because they seemingly got lost. Community members, CPF, and Fire and Rescue tried to maintain the fire with their meagre equipment.
We are further concerned that fire outbreaks are high during the dry August month and as a result, farmers experience huge loss.
The fact is that the absence of even a single operational fire truck is putting the lives of our residents at risk.
Increased loadshedding and colder nights bring greater risk of fires in especially densely populated informal settlements.
Thabazimbi has farming and mining communities which span over vast distances across Thabazimbi, Northam, Dwaalboom, Leeupoort, Rooiberg and Kromdraai and if a fire breaks out, these communities will also be compromised.
The DA will further hand over a memorandum to the Waterberg District Municipality to prioritise the repairs of existing fire trucks and to ensure the provision of adequate firefighting equipment.