Beit Bridge Town Council intends to construct a fire station and employ more fire fighters, in a move aimed at easing the burden on neighbouring Musina, Mirror has established. The town secretary, Dr Singo, said the latest move was aimed at enhancing service delivery in the border town, which currently relies on neighbouring Musina town in the event of fire outbreaks. “We have two fire engines and no fire station and that has a negative impact on us. As council we want to establish a fire station in Beit Bridge next year, so that we don’t continue relying on our neighbours from Musina,” he said.

Beitbridge and Musina Local Municipality signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2004 in a move aimed at complementing each other in key areas, such as disaster management.

The council received two fire engines, which were donated by the Japanese Fire Fighters Association in 2008, but the equipment has been lying idle due to a lack of resources. “Our fire engines have not been operating, largely due to a lack of personnel and a fire station,” Singo said, adding that they had since identified an area in Dulibadzimu high density suburb where the proposed fire station would be constructed.

The local authority currently has one qualified firefighter. "We have since invited a committee of the local firefighters association to visit our town in November, so that they assist us with advice and expertise on the requirements needed in putting up a fire station,” he added.

Singo said the local authority would soon approach other local organisations dealing with inflammable gases to complement their efforts in the area of fire management.

“We are just a small town council which is incapacitated, and the only way we can succeed in improving service delivery is through public-private partnership. We want to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to address the challenges we are facing. we therefore want to mobilize other companies which are prone to fires, so that we work together,” he said.

Meanwhile, Beit Bridge Town Council has acquired a new state-of-the-art ambulance, bringing to three the number of vehicles in the district. Singo said the newly acquired ambulance would help improve health delivery service in the district. “We bought another ambulance. In fact, we want to complement the efforts by the Beit Bridge District Hospital, which has no capacity at all,” he said.

The hospital relies on a single ambulance, which constantly breaks down. The same vehicle is used in ferrying patients and staff, food for patients as well during the national immunization programmes around the district.

Beit Bridge District Hospital also caters for the in transit population passing through the border town.