Fire trucks for rural municipalities hand over

24 January 2019

Statement by Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell.

The Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell handed over a brand new, custom made firefighting truck to the Hessequa municipality this morning.

The provincial government has now handed over ten fully equipped fire-fighting vehicles to rural municipalities situated across the province. These vehicles represent a total investment of R10 million. The vehicles are deployed in the following municipalities: Cederberg, Matzikama, Bergrivier, Witzenberg,Kannaland, Overberg, Hessequa, Laingsburg, Prins Albert en Beaufort West.

“This project represents a significant strengthening of the firefighting capabilities in these rural areas. The Western Cape is now the only province where every municipality has access to a modern and well equipped firefighting vehicle able to provide a firefighting service,” says Bredell.

Graham Paulse, the Head of Department for the Provincial Department of Local Government says the fire-fighting vehicles form part of a three year project that will see a total of R37-million invested into the improvement of rural firefighting capacity in the province.

“These vehicles are custom made and come fully equipped. They also come with maintenance plans and in addition we provide full training to the firefighting services from each town on the trucks and the equipment,” says Paulse.

ENDS.