As part of disaster reduction team and strategy, we noticed more fire victims in townships. especially in the shack dwellings. The most victims were elderly or child headed families and differently abled people. There is not enough space between the shacks for fire fighters to extinguish the fires. The shacks are informal settlements and the municipality can remove them from their dwellings without any notice.
So we organised the smoke detectors to be put in shacks as part of a strategy when the fire breaks out then the alarm will go off and will be heard in the neighbourhood. This reduces fatalities and loss of property in vulnerable communities. It has been done before in Khayelisha where there are shacks. Now they are living secured.
Phineas Ramakgasha is living in shack N0.19 one of beneficiaries of this programme in Sestwetla Informal Settlement. Now with this solutions we still face some challenges of turning on and off.
The Smoke Detector is a good programme and many areas will recommend, especially in underprivileged areas as the MEC {Lebohang Maile} launched the programme recently.
These Smoke Detectors are saving lives and other belongings.