Serious disaster management concerns

THE spate of huge veld fires that hit Zululand over the past month, specifically last Thursday, exposed what’s good and what’s bad in terms of disaster management and readiness to respond to such natural calamities.

On the positive side, firefighters who tackled 36 blazes in a single day did not flinch from their duties, despite operating in temperatures well above the 40 degrees experienced by the general public.

Working extra shifts and extended hours, these brave and dedicated City employees literally risked their lives in fires that claimed over 20 dwellings and raged wind-driven through plantations and veld.

They and their colleagues in other fire departments who fight fires are, unfortunately, too few in number, often under-trained, and almost always under-resourced.

This is part of the downside of our present disaster management capability.

Money that should be spent replenishing unserviceable equipment and buying the vehicles and other required resources, is diverted to more immediate budget needs.

While the City of uMhlathuze is blessed to have the fire- and incident-fighting resources of industry to call on, this can never be guaranteed.

The fact is, we need to have infrastructure available at a moment’s notice to serve all communities within the City’s boundaries.

Having a fire engine arrive 45 minutes after a house blaze is reported is simply not good enough.

Neither is it very reassuring to know that our fire trucks reportedly do not have ladders that can reach the top floors of our highest buildings.

Nor the fact that there is no provision made for emergency temporary housing for those who lose their homes to fires.

Added to these shortcomings is the current drought effect.

Although this obviously cannot be blamed on any municipal failing, it can be questioned whether the warning signs were read early enough before dams and reservoirs emptied and water pressure dropped.

Even crime has impacted on fire-fighting efforts, with scrap metal thieves stripping hydrants and rendering them unusable in emergencies.

We as the public also make the lives of fire-fighters more onerous, by dumping our refuse in greenbelts and areas that should be buffer zones acting as fire breaks.

So, as we salute our bold fire brigade members, let us as a City and as residents make their work easier, remembering that besides the blazes they attend, they also respond to gruesome accidents and incidents.

They deserve our thanks and need our prayers.