Written by Umamah Bakharia 

Due to the cold weather, many opt for heaters, candles and the like to keep warm. However, statistics show that these are also the causes of shack or home fires.

The city of Johannesburg has launched a “Stay-Alive-Until-We-Arrive” campaign to raise awareness about fire safety and to reinforce adequate measures for evacuations of burning structures.

Speaking to Radio Islam, EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi says the program is aimed at educating residents in communities on how to deal with fire emergencies.

“Residents will be trained on how to use fire extinguishers, how the fire behaves and how to handle breathing if someone stops breathing, with the main reason of making sure that we are empowering them to deal with emergencies while at home before us as emergency services arrive on scene,” says Mulaudzi.

So far, EMS has responded to 85 fire cases that have taken the lives of 3 people in the city of Johannesburg.

“We will be intensifying our public education programs going into our community, targeting mostly our informal settlements since those are the ones that report most of the fire incidents,” says Mulaudzi.

Residents are encouraged to visit their nearest fire stations to receive more information, alternatively, they can contact a centre at 011 758 5050.