Joburg launches Winter Safety Awareness campaign
The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Public Safety in the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Mgcini Tshwaku, launched the annual Winter Safety Awareness campaign from George Goch Hostel in Region F today, 25 May 2023.
MMC Tshwaku said: “The campaign aims to raise awareness and communicate preventative measures to the identified fire risk-prone areas to firstly, reduce a specific community’s risk exposure, secondly, how to respond to an eventuality, and thirdly to underscore the importance of a residential fire escape strategy.”
The City will target residents of formal and informal dwellings between May and September 2023. Joburg’s Disaster Management Centre has observed an increasing number of house fires partly attributed to the incorrect use or installation of alternative power sources, negligence, illegal connections, and faulty appliances.
Among informal settlements this is worse and can be attributed to overturned candles, braziers, paraffin stoves, children playing with flammable substances and braai fires that have not been completely put out amongst other causes. Informal settlements are constructed with highly combustible building materials and built within proximity making it very easy for hundreds of shacks to be burned within minutes.
“The objective is to make residents aware of the disastrous risks associated with the winter season and inform them of the potential threat these hazards and risks pose. We have seen fires break out with disastrous effects on lives and properties where people are left with absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs,” said MMC Tshwaku.
According to MMC Tshwaku, the intention is to “go door to door but the challenge is most people are home over weekends”.
During the 2021 winter campaign season, the centre responded to 281 fire incidents of which 161 occurred during the peak winter season being June to August. The overall incidents resulted in 40 injuries and 34 fatalities.
The trend analysis suggests that the impact of these fires is spread across all seven regions but more so in Region F. In line with this trend, most of the fatalities occurred in Region F and were followed by Region G. The centre provided humanitarian relief to 2793 households between April and September 2021.
In 2022, the centre responded to 238 fire incidents, 43 less than the previous year. Despite this reduction the peak season remains problematic with the centre responding to 166 incidents between June and August 2022.
According to Niel Rooi, the Director for Information Management and Communication at the centre, research findings also revealed a “drastic reduction in injuries and fatalities during the campaign season with injuries reducing from 40 in 2021 to 18 in 2022 and fatalities reducing from 34 in 2021 to 15 in 2022”.
Although there has been a general reduction of both fires and fatalities across most regions, “fires in Region G remain high and the impact across Regions A, F and G remains concerning”. He said that in the reduction comparison, although relatively high, there has been a decrease in house fires from 78 in 2021 to 67 in 2022. Similarly, there was also a decrease in shack fires over the same period, from 199 in 2021 to 168 in 2022.
The centre’s Training and Awareness Team is decentralised into three clusters made up of different Regions led by: Northern Cluster (Regions A, B & E): Peter Mosime 081 392 0283 Southern Cluster (Regions C, D & G): Lucia Maloka 081 547 8506 Inner City Cluster (Region F): Kemane Mokitle 081 326 8540.
Rooi may be contacted on 083 771 9928 for campaign information or log onto the city website www.joburg.org.za.