Projects and programmes

EMS is committed to providing a sustainable emergency service to all the citizens of Joburg. It contributes directly to the City’s vision and priorities through its reactive and pro-active services.

Through its pro-active services, the unit plays a direct role in changing residents’ perceptions of their own safety in Joburg. Through its reactive services, it is committed to ensuring that response times of ambulance and fire services are of world standard.

It continuously develops programmes and awareness campaigns to enhance service delivery. These are informed by the risk profile that the City develops and updates regularly to ensure consistent monitoring relevance of the services.

Some of the service’s campaigns are:

• Operation Uzungashi - a proactive fire programme that focuses on inspections of building and business centres. It is aimed at enforcing by-laws.
• Operation Bolokeha - a proactive approach towards high-risk areas in the city, focusing on ensuring that all buildings with high occupancy and activity levels during specific periods of the year are compliant to cope with any risks that might arise as a result.
• Vuk’ Uzenzele – the project is aimed at teaching communities to take charge of fires and other incidents in informal settlements. This is done through the Bucket Brigade, which is active in areas like Ivory Park, Diepsloot, Alexandra and Orange Farm. It relies on community volunteers. Other programme linked to Vuk’ Uzenzele are Stay Alive Till We Arrive, and Stop, Drop and Roll.
• Water Hydrant Project – this is aimed at making sure fire hydrants are operational. It is run in conjunction with the Johannesburg Water. It also runs a water safety programme with the water utility to prevent drownings.
• GIS Incident Mapping Project – the project maps the prevalence of incidents in the city, to help planning. It is also used to help prevent disaster and so minimise damage.
• Community Emergency Response Teams - these train members of the community in first aid and basic fire fighting to ensure that people are able to take charge and intervene during basic emergencies while the EMS is on the way.
• EMS 2010 Emergency Preparedness Programme – in line with the City’s initiatives, this programme is aimed at ensuring that the EMS is able to meet the needs of the 2010 Fifa World Cup™. Some of the issues here include the creation of capacity and training programmes.