Sikhumbuzo Moyo [email protected]
THE Bulawayo Fire and Ambulance Services Department responded to 596 road traffic accidents and 694 fire incidents between January and 30 September, Chief Fire Officer Mr Mhlangano Moyo has said.
Mr Moyo said the department also attended to 1 551 false alarms with good intent (FAWGI) and 231 false alarms with malicious intent (FAMI) during the period.
The department’s other responses included transporting patients to maternity clinics and transferring patients between hospitals, which accounted for additional call-outs.
“The fire incidents include property fires in households, veld fires, commercial and industrial fires. Two of the incidents were gas explosions in Cowdray Park and Nkulumane,” said Mr Moyo.
He said false alarms with good intent occurred in different circumstances, including when emergency crews responded to a distress call only to find that the person in need of assistance had already died.
In other cases, callers who were unsure of an exact address directed crews to a recognised public landmark, only for the team to discover that another ambulance had already collected the patient.
On road traffic accidents, Mr Moyo said the brigade transported about 30 injured people to hospital on an almost daily basis.
He attributed the accidents to factors including human error and poor or non-existent road signs.
