Fire fighters complain of bad condition equipment

City firefighters are adamant that their equipment is either in poor condition or not working at all, even though district management has said otherwise.

It was reported recently about Msunduzi’s fire services being in a disaster, but the city refuted those claims saying everything was in working order.

Since then, firefighters working in the uMgungundlovu District Municipality have also complained that they were left in a similar position with faulty equipment, lack of staff and a cover-up story from their management.

District municipality spokesperson Mbali Ndlovu said they had three major pumpers, two medium pumpers and three bakkie pumpers that were all operational.

However, long-serving firefighters in the district said they were still facing a massive problem and claimed they had only one working fire engine to serve 1,1 million people.

The uMgungundlovu District fire services serve Impendle, uMshwathi, Richmond, Mpofane, uMngeni, Ashburton and Camperdown.

A firefighter who asked not to be named said the Mpofane fire station was the only station with a fully operational fire engine.

He said the rest of the stations respond to fire emergencies using Land Cruisers and Isuzu bakkies that carry a maximum of 500 and 750 litres of water, respectively.