In a bid to assist municipalities to effectively deal with fire incidents in the province, the North West Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs has recently purchased two fire fighting engines worth more than R5,7 million for the Ratlou Local Municipality.
The two fire fighting engines are a rescue pamper and a water tanker, the rescue pamper can serve as both a fire fighting engine and an emergency rescue vehicle, while the water tanker is used as back-up to the rescue pamper and can carry up to 10 000 litres of water.
Handing over these fire engines to the municipality last week Friday, MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Gordon Kegakilwe, appealed to members of the community to refrain from making hoax emergency assistance calls.
MEC Kegakilwe also warned the fire fighters against using the vehicles for their own benefit. "These vehicles are not to be used for personal purposes, they are not meant to be used by individuals to pursue their own interests. They do not belong to any individual, they are meant to service the community and demonstrate that if we truly work together we can achieve more," he said.
He also reminded community members to acknowledge their traditional leaders as they are the custodians of the land. "Ward councillors should attend tribal meetings and work hand in hand with traditional leaders. Let's all work together to speed up service delivery," he concluded.
Meanwhile, Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality also bought two grass units worth R700 000 for the Ratlou local municipality. These grass units are mainly used in case of veld fires.
