By Motshabi Hoaeane
The growing incidents of fires in the City of Ekurhuleni in 2025, across different locations in both informal and formal areas has highlighted a variety of issues when it comes to disaster management in the City of Ekurhuleni – among them the increased need for preventative measures to help curb fire incidents from becoming disasters. According to the City of Ekurhuleni’s Disaster and Emergency Management Services in winter 2025 alone up to nine fire fatalities across the areas of Villa Liza, Katlehong, Germiston, Brakpan, Vosloorus and Nigel have been recorded, which have resulted in both loss of lives and homes. Lives lost and homes charred to cinders by fires which couldn’t be stopped before they were uncontrollable.
The fire fatalities have affected both formal and informal settlement areas during the winter season. One of the challenges highlighted by the City’s Disaster and Emergency Management Services in ensuring overall safety of residents from fires included lack of positive participation by during awareness campaigns on how to prevent fires, instead of reacting only after they had started. While the common causes of fires in all resorted cases were the result of heating, cooking and lighting scenarios, in informal settlement these could be seen as an instance of self-made electrical appliances & self-illegal connections, makeshift heaters and Braziers (imbaulas) inside homes, which increased the risk of fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. While in urban townships issues that increased fire cases ranged from bridged electrical connections & overloaded electrical connections, and unmonitored heaters.
Other factors that impeded fires getting extinguished on time also included self-constructed boom gates in residential areas which delay fire brigades’ timeous location of areas affected by fires, as well as people driving on the roads during peak hours not making way for fire engines to pass during emergencies. Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) Spokesperson William Ntladi said “the best way to avoid fire is through preventative measures”. “We encourage that heaters be placed at least 1 metre away from combustibles” he added.
Ntladi furthermore noted that not all fires are extinguished with water. He stressed the increased need for training for citizens to be able to recognize different classes of fires, so as to know how they can be extinguished – by water or sand.
The factors outlined by the City’s Disaster and Emergency Management Services also highlighted the increased need for residents to stay prepared for emergencies by ensuring that they engage in Public Information Education and Relations (PIER) subsection trainings offering the awareness training to civil organizations and all members of the public at fire stations and during outreaches. Beyond this,careful handling of equipment of heating, cooking, lighting appliances was encouraged.
Winter Awareness Roll Out Campaign
On 5 July 2025, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Management Service in collaboration with Gauteng Provincial Disaster Management continued with its winter awareness rollout campaign at the Kingsway taxi rank, next to Lawrence Sibanyoni Municipal Library. This, in Springs on Paul Kruger highway towards Daveyton.
A statement issued, by DEMS noted that “the city already had several fatal formal and informal settlement structural fires thus far and would like to pursue the communities towards safety practices to preserve lives and save their properties”
In a call for caution the department said that “children shouldn’t be left alone with heat appliances without responsible adult supervision.”
Among other safety measures suggested by DEMS are that residents who use paraffin appliances and power generators should allow these items to cool off first before refueling, also Braziers (Mbaulas) and heaters are encouraged to be switched off before people go to sleep.
Residents of the city are encouraged to call 011 458-0911 for Fire and Life-Threatening emergencies.
