By Jonk was Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
The City of Johannesburg has on the 18th May 2021 officially opened the Protea Glen Fire Station
The station is intended to serve the community of Protea Glen and surrounding areas, particularly Naledi, Mapetla, Protea North, Lefereng and Lenasia.
Managed by a team of highly skilled firefighters, the facility is a multi-purpose station and is also the home of the tenth BESAFE CENTRE in the City of Johannesburg.
The BESAFE Centre is the Emergency Management Services (EMS) Public Information, Education and Relations team responsible for educating all our residents about life and fire safety.
Furthermore, the facility has a swimming pool which will be used in conjunction with EMS’s partners, Swim SA to teach children about water safety and how to respond to water-related incidents.
There is also a Fitness Centre which Firefighters can use to maintain their levels of fitness.
The Executive Mayor, Cllr Geoff Makhubo, has also announced that the City has received 10 Fire and Rescue vehicles previously paid for by the City in an irregular and unlawful contract awarded by the City in the previous administration.
“The City had paid an amount of R172 million for fire engines which were never delivered and for which the current administration vowed to recover value for the residents of Johannesburg whose monies were irregularly and unlawfully dispensed without benefit.”
“Today, in line with a Judgment of the High Court, we have successfully recovered five new fire engines and an additional five rapid response rescue vehicles to serve the communities of Johannesburg” said Makhubo.
Makhubo said in the past the City’s EMS has been troubled by the unacceptable delays when responding to incidents in new settlements and areas far from the fire stations around Soweto.
“The building of Protea Glen Fire Station is the premise upon a strategic goal to increase on the accessibility of the services to the community. These facilities are an embodiment of the City of Johannesburg Public Safety Department commitment to building safe communities and therefore a safer city. As a city, we own responsibility to ensure that we save lives and properties of all the residents of the City the hence the building the Protea Glen Fire station was critical,” Said mayor Makhubo
The opening of the fire station and the arrival of the fire and emergency vehicles coincide with the city ‘s approval of R326-million to acquire fire engines and necessary machinery for all its 31 fire stations.
The firefighting machinery to be purchased include jaws of life, often used to pull drivers and passengers out of damaged vehicles after serious car crashes, hoses that carry water to extinguish fires, drones to monitor fires, push-to-talk devices, expansion of the CCTV footprint around the city used for crime monitoring purposes and investing in new and advanced technology, such as face and car registration recognition.
“We are pleased that that City’s Public Safety department has achieved such strides. The opening of the fire station, delivery of the fire and rescue equipment and approval of budget will certainly aid us to deliver on the mandate provide effective and professional emergency services to all residents of the City of Johannesburg. We therefore encourage all our residents to work with us to create safer Johannesburg.” Concludes Makhubo
