The Randburg Fire Station has been refurbished and formally handed over to the City’s Emergency Services.

The old single story building was built in 1965 and is situated at the Corners of Barkston Road and Mackay Lane Road, opposite Multichoice in Randburg. The building was refurbished, at a cost of R5 million, to meet international fire service standards and now includes a vehicle wash bay (used to wash ambulance and fire engines), a gymnasium, a recreational centre with snooker/soccer tables and Dstv , two boardrooms , 12 offices and bathrooms and showers.

“As part of our planning and commitment to create a safer city and respond to emergencies we need to have fire stations with highly skilled personnel as well as state of the art equipment”, said Councillor Sello Lemao, member of the mayoral committee for Public Safety.

The new fire station will feature a Basic Emergency Safety and Fire Education Centre (BESAFE) that will serve as an educational tool. The centre will be used by the Public Education, Information and Relations (PIER) team to inform community members about EMS safety programmes. The station also has a fire safety unit which deals with code and by-law enforcement to assist communities with compliance of city emergency services bylaws.

Services such as Chaplaincy Office to deal with trauma counselling and spiritual guidance for staff and members of the community, and Fire Safety Office, which will have four fire safety inspectors responsible for by-law enforcement and code enforcement of the City’s emergency services bylaws, will also be available.

The station will also use the public education site or Besafe centre to train school children on the Learn not to burn Program, which is designed specifically to teach young children the emergency number, how to evacuate a burning building and first aid among other things. – Joburg.org.za