Times Of Swaziland: TEACHER’S HOUSE BURNS, FIRE FIGHTERS FAIL TO ATTEND

TEACHER’S HOUSE BURNS, FIRE FIGHTERS FAIL TO ATTEND
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Joseph Zulu on 03/12/2022 10:08:00


NDZINGENI – Despite being their prime duty, firefighters failed to respond to
a fire emergency call because they did not have a police escort.
As a result, a teacher’s house around Ndzingeni burnt throughout the night as
no one could put out the fire. The fire is said to have started just after
midnight on Friday.
Burnt
According to Amos Vilakati, who is a teacher, he said only his house was burnt
within the homestead, which has a number of other houses in close proximity of
each other. He said according to some of the people who were at home, they
claimed to have heard footsteps outside before  the fire started. It is alleged
someone may have thrown a flammable substance into the house. The possibility of
a candle having caused the fire was ruled out as there was no one inside the
house at the time. He said the attempt to put out the fire proved futile as it
had already spread and that the flames engulfed the structure.
Responded
Vilakati said the fire emergency services in Pigg’s Peak were called but they
did not arrive. When he was called at around 4pm yesterday, the fire emergency
services personnel had still not responded to the emergency call. This
publication also confirmed from some of the fire emergency personnel that the
reason they could not make it was because they did not have police officers to
escort them. They confirmed that they had received a call  that there was a
house on fire in Ndzingeni but they could not attend to it.
Threats
They said there was an agreement to be accompanied by the police  for their
safety as there had been threats to harm firefighters by unknown people  on
social media platforms. Worth noting is that the country has been plagued by
random arson attacks due to the current political climate. Some  of the
firefighters said there were no available police officers as they were all
attending to a fire at the Rocklands Mill where a fire had also started. The
firefighters said it was risky for them to respond to emergencies without the
escort of the police. They said they could not risk their lives as they had been
warned via online publications that they should no longer attend to certain fire
emergencies.
Emergencies
However, the firefighters said they did not know which of the fire emergencies
they were expected to attend to and which to leave as their mandate is to
prevent / stop fires while saving lives and property. Mandla Dlamini, who is the
Public Relations Officer (PRO), at The Eswatini Fire Emergency Services when
reached for comment said he was not aware of the fire at Ndzingeni. He said he
was aware of the fire at the Rocklands Mill and that emergency personnel had
responded to it.
Questions
However, he referred questions to the station officer at the Pigg’s Peak Fire
Station. A call was also made to the Chief Police Information and Communications
Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati to enquire if the police had an
arrangement to escort fire emergency personnel whenever there was a fire.
However, her cellphone rang unanswered.