City of Cape Town worried about safety of firefighters following ambush
25 January 2017
Cape Town – The City of Cape Town says it is concerned about the safety of firefighters following an incident on Monday where a team were ambushed in Gugulethu by residents who had apparently lured them out by calling them to non-existent blaze.
"It is of great concern that our firefighters appear to have been led into a trap. This callous attack is costing money that the City can ill afford to squander," mayoral committee member for safety JP Smith said.
According to Smith, the City did not usually receive malicious distress calls.
"(We) receive some false alarms which are deemed malicious (approximately 1 to 2% of our calls are malicious false alarms) but very seldom, if any, have been to target our vehicles and staff specifically," Smith said.