Johannesburg - City of Joburg is battling with a severe shortage of resources that there are only six working fire trucks to service all the areas falling under the metro.
Brixton fire station, which is supposed to service some of the national key points including the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the Sentech tower, allegedly has only one fire truck.
According to sources, Brixton only has one fire truck which has been going in and out of the workshop and has now been discontinued because of braking system failures about five months ago.
“Imagine a whole station that is expected to service national key points does not having enough fire trucks. Apart from the SABC and Sentech tower, we have the University of Johannesburg, University of Witwatersrand, Egoli Gas, Helen Joseph Hospital, and Milpark Hospital,” the sources said.
They also said the fire station also services about five squatter camps.
The City's Emergency Services spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi confirmed that the city does have a shortage of fire trucks. He said the City has a fleet of 100 fire trucks, 60 of which are irreparable and were now in the process of being scrapped.
“We cannot run away from the fact that the city is in short of fire trucks, however, we are placing whatever resources we have to attend to fire emergencies,” Mulaudzi said.
“We have 40 fire trucks which were operational. Thirty-four of the 40 are at workshops for repairs, leaving the City with only six operational fire trucks,” Mulaudzi said.
Mulaudzi further said they have ‘strategically’ deployed the six fire trucks in high risk areas to enable an effective response to emergencies.
He said a plan has been put under way to resolve the issue of shortage and that the department would announce its plan in due course.
"However, the issue of shortage of vehicles was being addressed at the highest level and the process of procuring new fire trucks is underway," he added.
According to Mulaudzi, the city has a total of 30 fire station and many don't have fire trucks.