To prevent residents and their pets in especially informal settlements from becoming victims of runaway fires we together with renowned Community Champion Keith Blake and colleagues from the Ottery Fire Station, Volunteer Wildfire Services, SAPS and members of the Ottery Boyz Motorcycle Club (MCC) recently took to the streets to enlighten and enable vulnerable communities. The convoy that attracted huge interest and loud applause was led by a vintage fire engine driven by AWS SA Volunteer Mark Randall (who is also an experienced wildfire fighter) accompanied by AWS SA Inspectorate Controller and certified first responder Crystal Fester. The route took them through several high-risk areas including Philippi, Ottery, Lotus River and Lansdowne where they stopped to address the community and distribute educational pamphlets. “Disaster Risk Management and Fire Prevention are key focus areas for our Inspectorate for 2025 and these life-saving projects that we plan to rollout throughout the year will be substantially boosted by generous funding from the Humane Society International who are as determined as ourselves to improve matters”, said AWS SA Spokesman Allan Perrins. Most of our beneficiaries cannot afford electricity or conventional accommodation leaving them no choice but to use candles and paraffin lamps for light and open fires to cook and keep warm in dangerously crammed conditions and dwellings constructed of highly combustible material where all it takes is one act of negligence to impact an entire community.
We’ve all seen or read about the devastating fires in Los Angeles and even locally that have resulted in pet owners having to evacuate their homes and abandon their pets and if we are to avoid a similar situation, we need to be better prepared.
In our opinion, being properly prepared, working alongside empowered communities and forming strategic partnerships will go a long way towards preventing the impact when disaster strikes and, in this regard, we have never been better prepared and ready to respond.
