CITY ACQUIRES R23 MILLION IN NEW FIRE FIGHTING VEHICLES

SPEECH BY HELEN ZILLE MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN

CITY ACQUIRES R23 MILLION IN NEW FIRE FIGHTING VEHICLES 

Roeland Street Fire Station – 28 JUNE 2007 

Background: The City has received five large fire engines, called ‘Destroyers’, two bush fire fighting 4X4s, called ‘Bushmasters’, and four Rescue Vehicles. We will also be taking delivery of four more Destroyers by the end of August this year. The total cost of these items is over R23 million. All of the vehicles are fully equipped.

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Mr Dumisani Ximbi, Councillors, Executive Director of Safety and Security, Mr Dick Tshangela Director of Emergency Services, Mr Pat Adams, Chief Fire Officer, Mr Ian Schnetler, members of the City of Cape Town Fire Department, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen.

As Councillor Ximbi and Mr Adams have explained, the City of Cape Town’s 11 new fire fighting vehicles, form part of a replacement programme that will reinforce the current Fire and Rescue Service fleet. Much of the equipment in this fleet is ageing, and must be replaced.

However, this is only one element of the bigger set of challenges that the Cape Town fire department faces. We have the same situation in the fire services that is plaguing many other areas of service and infrastructure delivery in Cape Town. While the city’s population, industries and overall geographic area have grown, local government resources have been neglected where they should have been expanded.

If we want to realise our goal of a safe and economically growing City, the years of neglect have to be reversed. In the fire services, there are a number of areas that have required urgent attention. Staff shortages have meant that fire fighters have had to put in huge amounts of overtime to meet the demands placed on them. In some cases, staff shortages have been so severe that fire stations have had to close for a full day.

The situation has been worsened by a lack of pay parity. Until last year, Fire fighters have been getting paid on the seven different pays scales of the seven former municipal administrations that became the Unicity in 2000. This has resulted in low staff morale, and the resignation of many experienced fire fighters, including the former Fire Chief, Piet Smith.

During the time I have been in office, we have also seen the loss of several fire fighters’ lives, for which we in the City have shared collective bereavement. The most recent was Mr Rushdi Langeveldt, who lost his life fighting a fire inside a textile factory at Crompton Road, Strand. He served the City as a fire fighter in Strand for nearly 10 years, and his death is a tragic loss.

I am hoping that the arrival of this new equipment, and the appointment of Mr Schnetler as our new fire chief, will mark the beginning of better and safer working conditions for our fire fighters. I also hope that it will mark the decisive reversal of the ongoing neglect of this key service area.

So far we have managed to tackle the first phase of introducing pay parity. And we have appointed about 100 new staff to the fire service so far. Our Executive Director for Human Resources, Mr David Beretti, also tells me that advertisements for new trainees and recruits will be out in the next few weeks. Some of the staff that have been appointed were former volunteers and forestry fire fighters.

We understand that there are concerns among the more experienced fire fighters about the capability of new recruits. Our fire fighters want to be sure that their colleagues have the skills to provide adequate support in emergency situations. They especially do not want weak links in teams that are fighting industrial scale fires in factories or ships.

I have heard your concerns, and I will be watching the situation carefully to ensure that all new recruits are getting sufficient training and performance management. This is as much for their own sake as it is for their colleagues and the general public. But we must give them the opportunity to prove themselves and grow into the experienced fire fighters that this City needs.

We also value your input on any other issues that may arise in your Department. In this regard I want Mr Schnetler and Mr Adams to know that my door is always open to them. Unfortunately we cannot, overnight, fix all of the problems that have arisen from years of neglect in the fire services.

While we have procured new equipment, the staff shortages in the Fire Services remain our biggest challenge. It takes time to train new recruits, and for them to gain the experience needed to be senior fire fighters. That is the great tragedy of neglecting an organisation such as this. If I have any say in the matter, though, within the next few years Cape Town’s fire and emergency service will meet all safety standards and be ready for any disasters that may threaten the lives or property of our citizens.

2007/06/28