The firefighting and rescue department in Vhembe District received a major boost when three major fire pumpers and a rescue vehicle were added to their fleet.

The vehicles, costing in excess of R7 million, were officially received by the executive mayor of Vhembe, Cllr Falaza Mdaka, during a ceremony held at the municipality offices at Thohoyandou on Friday.

Mr Tshimangadzo Mphigalale, Fire and Rescue Manager at Vhembe, said the trucks came at the right time as they were preparing for the fire season that had already started. “We are miles ahead in planning for this season and we will not be caught off guard; we are ready for any eventuality,” he said.

Mphigalale said their present fleet was aged and could not meet the demand and were not reliable. “We have more than 60 officers at the ready but not enough machinery. We cannot say the four new vehicles will be enough for the district and before the end of the month, we will have four new vehicles to reinforce the existing ones,” he said.

Mphigalale said equipment and officers alone were not enough to fight fires but needed the commitment of all. “We are busy engaging our communities and giving them training in the fight against fires. We are also giving them grass beaters that will be start-up kits to fight fires,” he said.

He added that they were having a positive and a healthy working relationship with traditional leaders who had made many members of the community available for training.

Mdaka said as a municipality they were committed to bettering the service to their communities. He said many lives were lost each year because of uncontrolled fires. “As part of our fight against unwanted fires, we are going to decentralise the resources at our disposal and, by doing so, we will meet the needs of our people,” he said.

Mdaka said there are still areas which needed improvement when it came to fire and rescue. “We have identified areas of improvement or which need new stations and this we are going to do during the course of this financial year,” he said.

He said a fire station costing R23 million rand was going to be built at Malamulele, Vuwani Fire Station and Training Centre will cost R38million, the Disaster Centre at Muledane will have its Phase 2 completed at a cost of R7,5 million, while the Dzanani Fire Station is at a planning stage that will cost R1million. “There is no excuse regarding resources now; we have to stand up and work for our people as we promised them during elections. It is now business unusual,” he said.

Mr Jubilee Jones, vehicle sales and training manager at Fire Raiders, a company that supplied the vehicles, said they were one of the best in the world. He said the vehicles were fitted with high-mast monitors, which make them suitable to work even at squatter camps where there is no electricity. They have high- and low-pressure facility, four high-volume deliveries for major structural fires.

The big trucks can carry 3 500 litres of water and boast a four-by-four capacity with an extra crew cab. He said his company has an after-care service where they service all their clients. They are busy providing training to officers who will be using the vehicles.