South Africa: Premier welcomes construction of new fire station in Robertson

This week Premier Alan Winde helped to formally open the new fire station in Roberston, in the Langeberg Local Municipality.

Up until now, the municipality had operated a satellite fire station based in Ashton to service five towns and neighbouring farms. With the new station, response times will be dramatically improved.

“This is a significant investment in saving lives and property and will further bolster our province’s overall efforts to respond more effectively to disasters,” Premier Winde said while touring the R17 million facility with Western Cape Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell.

The Premier added, “With natural disasters becoming more frequent due to climate change, we must continuously build on our disaster management system.”

The building consists of a reception lobby, a watch room, offices, a boardroom, a lecture room, ablution facilities, kitchen facilities, a gymnasium, and sleeping quarters. The machine bay can accommodate six fire engines.

He continued, “We have a world-class disaster management network in the Western Cape, adept at responding to all manner of incidents. This facility is proof of our ongoing efforts to keep improving this network, with the safety of our residents top of mind. The current summer fire season has shown us the importance of this, as well as the need to strengthen partnerships. With the impact of climate change evident all around us, improved collaboration is essential. We are reminded of this with the mass power outage that hit the Central Karoo, Garden Route district, and Overberg. Were it not for partnerships and a shared sense of urgency, we would not have been able to mitigate the impact of this disaster.”

The Premier also thanked all disaster management personnel in the province for everything they do for their communities, “Our firefighters are the embodiment of the professional and caring service delivery the Western Cape has come to be known for. Thank you for all you do.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Western Cape Government: Department of the Premier.