THE BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) is losing its firefighters, mainly to Asian countries, at a time when the city is experiencing an increase in fire outbreaks.
Economic hardships are forcing hundreds of Zimbabweans to leave the country in droves to look for greener pastures abroad, a situation which has left BCC in dire straits due to an acute shortage of firefighters.
In a recent statement, council spokesperson Bongiwe Ngwenya said the fire brigade was experiencing a major brain drain challenge.
“The city has lost young up-and-coming firefighters, officers and fire engine drivers, making it difficult to close some of the gaps. These challenges were also being experienced in practical fire fighting,” she said.
“The firefighters have left for Asia, that is, Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, while others are leaving for local companies paying in foreign currency. The (fire) brigade has lost 38 qualified firefighters and officers since January 2023.”
Ngwenya said the City of Bulawayo’s Fire and Ambulance Services was known for producing quality firefighters the world over.
She said the city was proud of some of its firefighters who are now working at international fire stations.
“We are appreciative that even as they have left the service they continue to assist the city in various ways and partnerships and also coming back to train firefighters in the city,” she said.
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“One such partnership is the Operation Florian which came about as a result of a former City of Bulawayo firefighter. The training from the charity has gone a long way in improving our standards of operation and interpretation of fire issues.”
Ngwenya said discipline and standards of operation continued to be maintained within the city’s fire services despite the brain drain.
She expressed concern that fire hoses sometimes leak during operations, largely due to wear and tear, which affects firefighting operations.
“The major cause of these leaks has been the failure to co-operate by members of the motoring public who drive over hoses charged with between 4–10 bars of pressure, making them susceptible to bursts.
“This is despite the fact that the city has hose ramps meant to assist motorists manoeuvre over the fire hose (during a fire-fighting exercise). To prevent leaks, the hoses need to be cleaned and dried after attending to a fire.
“This has, however, not been possible recently as the (fire) brigade is currently attending to an average of 8–10 calls per day due to grass fires.”
At least five major fires have been recorded in Bulawayo in the past month.
These include at the Mutize flea market blaze where property worth more than US$500 000 was destroyed.
Another inferno at Mzilikazi Panel Beating garage destroyed 15 cars while property worth millions of dollars was destroyed.
A house in Pelandaba was also destroyed and property worth ZWL$15 million was destroyed in a fire incident on Friday last week.
