Johannesburg has seen a rise of fire incidents in formal structures as compared to fire occurrences in informal settlements.
Experts have not ruled out that the recent spate of Eskom’s blackouts could be the cause.
In its annual report for the 2021-2022 financial year, the city said this new phenomenon had put pressure on its emergency management services department, which already has limited resources to deal with shack fires in informal settlements.
The city has launched an investigation into the causes of these fires.
“The department has noted an overall increase in fire-related incidents, particularly towards the end of the financial year. It is also noted that most of these fire incidents were in formal structures as compared to traditional high number of fire incidents in informal settlements. These recent patterns have stretched the current limited fire and rescue vehicles to the maximum. The department has, therefore, initiated an investigation into the causes of these fires in a bid to implement a pro-active approach to prevent future occurrences,” reads the report.
The department said it had conducted training which targeted individuals from different walks of life such as teachers and scholars to empower and prepare communities for any disasters and emergencies that might occur.
“A total of 3,628 community members were trained against the target of 1,579, whereas, a total of 1,154 teachers were trained against the target of 200. Even though the departmental targets were achieved there are still shack fire incidents and formal building fires that occurred as a result of negligence,”’ reads the report.
Advanced fire investigator Thys Steenkamp said an electrical overload and negligence caused fires in formal houses.
“Most fires in the last couple of months are more related to the after-effects of load shedding. For example, when the power is restored, Eskom or City Power cannot restore 10,000 houses with the same current of electricity at the same time. They must decrease the power or increase the power to connect 10,000 houses again. The distribution of electricity cannot be the same. This creates an overload where too much current passes through the electric wires. The wires heat up and start a fire in the house,” said Steenkamp.
“Some people leave their heaters and hair dryers on during load shedding. When the power is restored, the equipment which was left on heats up and causes a fire,” he said.
Steenkamp urged residents of formal houses to do regular checks of their distribution boards and switch off electrical equipment when leaving their houses.
“People should get electricians to check the wiring inside their distribution boards every six months. They should also have their earth leakage [circuit breaker] checked to avoid overloading,” he said.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.