• The Western Cape continues to give smoke alarms to communities that are ravaged by fires.
• The smoke alarms give citizens an early warning when a fire breaks out, giving them time to react and get to safety.
• To date over 19 000 smoke alarms have been installed in at-risk informal townships in the Western Cape.

With the arrival of the colder Winter weather comes an increase in the number of fires as disadvantaged South Africans look to stay warm. Unfortunately, this presents a risk that South Africans have heard about far too often.

In an effort to prevent fires from claiming the lives of citizens, the Western Cape Government has been donating smoke alarms to communities. This week, the provincial government donated 1 316 smoke alarms to the Langeberg Municipality.

The goal of donating smoke alarms is to alert residents when a fire breaks out, reducing the potential fatalities and injuries these incidents can cause. To date, 19 525 alarms have been installed in informal townships and neighbourhoods across the province.

“This initiative has much potential for further scaling up and I would like to see it being rolled out in all Western Cape municipalities,” said Western Cape Minister for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell.

Bredell started the smoke alarm initiative in 2016 with the Western Cape Fire and Rescue Services.

These alarms aren’t just detecting smoke as that would be pointless in an informal settlement where fires are used for warmth and cooking. Indeed, even the simple act of burning a candle or smoking can trigger most smoke alarms. Instead, the smoke alarm measures the amount of light at a source. If enough smoke passes in front of the light source, the alarm triggers.

Developing the alarms required thoughtful consideration, which you can read more about here.

“In our informal settlements we have dwellings constructed of highly flammable materials, which are also built very close to one another. During our cold winter months people often use open fires for heating and during the windy and dry summer months candles and open stove flames add to the fire risk,” said Bredell.

“Our research shows that people have less than 3 minutes from the start of a shack fire to the likelihood of serious burn injuries or fatalities. Because of the speed at which these fires develop and spread, our focus with the smoke alarms is for effective early detection that will save people in the first place, and property in the second place,” he added.

So far the initiative is having its desired intention with no known fatalities coming from fires in communities where the alarms are installed.

While the alarms are helpful, the accompanying safety training and fire awareness that comes with the alarms is a boon to communities and hopefully this leads to fewer fatalities and injuries in these areas this Winter.