Volunteer Community Firefighting Program Expanded

Atlantic Fire Services (AFS) continued its mission to empower high-risk communities with essential fire safety training and resources, hosting a major Volunteer Community Firefighting session in Khayelitsha, Ward 89.
The initiative brought together the Ward Councillor, community members, and local leaders, all united in their commitment to protect six surrounding informal settlements.

AFS donated 35 fire extinguishers to newly formed community response teams, followed by a full fire awareness session and hands-on practical training outside. The goal: to ensure residents can respond rapidly to fires while awaiting formal fire services.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
We are in Khayelitsha, Ward 89, with the Ward Councillor, community, and community leaders. We are busy with our volunteer community firefighting program. We’ve got 35 extinguishers that we are donating to the community today, and then we will continue with our practical training outside.”

Speaking to the crowd, AFS Commander Paul Krüger outlined the purpose and structure of the community-driven programme.

“I am Paul Krüger, the Commander of Atlantic Fire Services. As we usually say, we’re an NGO. We’re not the government. We don’t work for the government. We’re a non-profit organisation.

We are here today to introduce our program, Volunteer Community Firefighters. In our program, we donate fire extinguishers, but we also donate our training. So we’re going to teach you today how to use a fire extinguisher and when to use it. And then we also donate our support.

If the fire extinguishers are used and empty, report to us. We come back, we replace them, we take the empty ones, we refill them. So it’s an ongoing program.”

Krüger emphasised the urgency of empowering communities with immediate firefighting capability.

“Cape Town has a lot of fire, especially now in summertime. It’s dry, we don’t have rain, and the wind is a very big problem.

Fires in informal settlements are very destructive. Houses are close together, there are few roads, and it’s difficult to get inside. For the fire brigade, it takes some time to arrive and even longer to reach the fire.

The only solution we saw is to empower the community to have fire extinguishers to stop these fires. A house fire can engulf a home in three minutes — a flashover. The fire extinguishers we donate will be issued to different teams to protect the six informal settlements in this area.”

The Ward Councillor expressed sincere appreciation and reinforced the community’s responsibility to use the equipment wisely.

“Thank you very much. It will make a big difference, a huge difference, because we need these services. I hope we will use it in a manner that is good, and we make sure that in this festive season, there will be no more fires. Thank you very much.”

With each new community trained, AFS continues to build a frontline network of local first responders — neighbours equipped and ready to protect each other before fires become tragedies.

Empowering communities. Strengthening local response. Protecting lives and homes — together.