{"id":126928,"date":"2016-07-09T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/126928\/community-educated-about-fire\/"},"modified":"2016-07-10T10:35:13","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T08:35:13","slug":"community-educated-about-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2016\/07\/09\/community-educated-about-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Community educated about fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaya FM in collaboration with Gift of the Givers and the municipality held an awareness campaign at the Makause informal settlement, recently.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event was primarily aimed at educating the community about fire safety and how to use fire extinguishers.<\/p>

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Ward 21 councillor, Tania Campbell, was among those present appreciating the initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWard 21 includes Makause informal settlement and I welcome Kaya FM into our ward,\u201d she said.<\/p>

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\u201cThey have started a great initiative bringing in fire extinguishers to people within the informal settlements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have identified groups of people who will be trained by Ekurhuleni Emergency Services to stop fires more quickly which will prevent the fire from spreading to other shacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important that within the winter months we do programmes like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to Kaya FM for choosing my ward because these are the communities that really need our support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district manager media liaison for Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS), William Ntladi, also agreed with Campbell and said, \u201cWe welcome the assistance offered by parties like Kaya FM as it makes our job a lot easier as far as safety is concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the fire extinguisher present within the communities, fires can be extinguished or contained and kept to a minimum before the arrival of DEMS.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this way, lives of more community members can be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very happy with this initiative, at least we will be able to extinguish fires properly and effectively,\u201d said Makause informal settlement resident, Joyce Mthombeni.<\/p>\n

The company assigned to install the fire extinguishers is Akunamlilo Fire Fighters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go to different informal settlements and train people how to use fire extinguishers,\u201d said the founder of Akunamlilo Fire Fighters, Milton Mzobe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get funding and buy fire extinguishers that we also install.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here with Kaya FM and Gift of the Givers to give and install 300 fire extinguishers in the Makause informal settlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso partnering with the metro we want to make a difference and eliminate fire outbreaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also encouraging to see community members willing to learn about the use of fire extinguishers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fire extinguishers and the knowledge of fire extinguishing were not the only things received by the community of Makause.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of our winter warmer campaign we will be giving each community member a blanket, milk and toiletry items, among other things,\u201d said the project manager at Gift of the Givers, Emily Thomas.<\/p>\n

Community members were also treated to a plate of food by Gift of the Givers.<\/p>\n