As winter sets in, the comforting glow of warming fires becomes a familiar sight, helping to keep us cozy at home during the colder months. Along with this, comes an added risk of house fires within our community.
The most common cause of house fires in winter is heating equipment. This includes furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves, and space heaters, with fireplace chimney’s being a particularly significant contributor to heating-related fires. Improper use, lack of maintenance, or incorrect installation can lead to these fires.
We ask the community to please make sure that your fireplaces and chimneys are checked and maintained regularly, and that proper installation and certification is done with any new installation or repairs.
For the team, weekly standby duties and regular training will continue as normal, throughout the winter season.
FIRE & RESCUE: This past month the team has responded to several incidences, one involving a missing person, and another being a house fire where a chimney was involved. The fire was reported in the early hours of the morning, and the team were able to respond quickly, successfully extinguishing the fire and ventilating the house.
In addition to the above, the team has also responded to several flooding incidents, assisting with road condition assessments for the municipality and the collection, filling and distribution of sandbags to assist those in flooded areas.
Following on from last month’s Newsletter – STEP 2: ASSESSING YOUR PERSONAL FIRE RISK:
Please assess your personal property fire risk by answering the following Yes/No questions:
ARE YOU FIREWISE?
Follow this link to download the Fire Wise Booklet which is full of great tips and important information : https://bettysbayratepayers.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/WCG-Wild-Fire-Ready-Booklet-13082020-.pdf
Report fire and emergencies immediately.
Always phone – no WhatsApp messages AND no WhatsApp calls
YOUR IMPORTANT NUMBERS – load them into your phone NOW!
028 312 2400 ALL Fire & Emergency – you can use this number to report a fire, an accident, or ANY emergency.
028 313 8980 Fire reporting
072 616 8418 Betty’s Bay Fire Volunteers – NO WhatsApp calls or messages, ONLY standard calls.
Support the Volunteers: If you would like to join our team or support us in any way, please contact Jorika on 072 616 8418.
Should you wish to contribute funds or donations towards a fire & rescue emergency response vehicle you can deposit into the following bank account:
Bank details:
- Name: Betty’s Bay Ratepayers Association
- Bank: ABSA
- Bank: Hermanus
- Account: 4066 616 439
- Reference: FIRE +Your surname
N.B Please clearly mark the reference FIRE as BBRA are custodians for several organizations in Betty’s Bay and they need to allocate the funds accordingly.
FOLLOW US on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php id=100064379211431
Thank you for your ongoing support and donations.
Until our next update, keep warm and stay Fire Wise!
Jorika Rabie