RESPONSE TO DAILY MAVERICK ARTICLES
The City of Cape Town feels compelled to respond to Mr Jared Sacks' opinion pieces presented as a journalistic investigation into the root causes of fires in informal settlements which appeared on the Daily Maverick's website on 7 and 14 January 2013 (see here and here). The writer has repeatedly refused to present the City's response accurately and the City cannot allow these inaccuracies to go unanswered.
The City provided the facts to Mr Sacks prior to publication of his first article, but regrettably, he used them selectively. City officials have been working tirelessly to assist BM Section residents, ever since the first call was received alerting them to the fire. In fact their presence has been noted on a daily basis, at community meetings that have been held to agree with the community on a sustainable plan for the area and at memorial services for those who tragically died in the fire.
As explained to Mr Sacks, the first telephone call was received from a member of the public at 04:45 on 1 January 2013 and the first vehicle was immediately dispatched from Lansdowne Road Fire Station and arrived at the scene at 05:02. The Control Centre received numerous telephone calls after that, but it must be noted that the vehicles were dispatched immediately after the first call was received. The first fire engine requested additional assistance (six fire engines and two additional water tankers) while en route to the scene.
The additional assistance was also immediately dispatched from the nearest surrounding fire stations. The City advised Mr Sacks that the first vehicles initially experienced problems with accessibility as the residents had inadvertently and unintentionally blocked the path to the fire with their personal belongings that they were removing from the area affected by the fire. From that he incorrectly deduced that the City believed that the massive damage was the fault of the residents. In fact, City staff assisted residents wherever possible to remove their belongings from the path of the fire. One of the biggest challenges of fighting fires in informal settlements is density and access.
With regard to the dispatching of the helicopter, the article calls on the City to have done this earlier, claiming it could have ‘greatly diminished the destructive force of the blaze'. However, as the City has stated previously, the helicopter was employed at first light on 1 January 2013. It is not safe to dispatch a helicopter using "water bombings" while it is still dark - "water bombing" can cause substantial damage if it misses its target.