City’s fire detector kits help keep fires at bay in Masiphumelele
11 May 2016
Lumkani, a social enterprise that seeks to address the challenge of shack fires in urban informal settlements, has donated 1 600 Lumkani devices to the City’s South Peninsula Subcouncil.
All 1 600 devices have now been installed in homes in the Masiphumelele informal settlement.
Early warning system
‘The Lumkani device is an early warning system meant to reduce the damage and destruction caused by the spread of fires in informal settlements. These detectors use rate-of-rise-of-temperature technology to accurately measure the incidence of dangerous fires and limit the occurrence of false alarms.
‘The in-shack heat detector will ring when a fire is detected, enabling the family in the home to respond proactively and possibly extinguish the fire. If this is not the case, the device will then trigger all devices within a 40-metre range of itself, using transmission technology, to create a community-wide alert. This will serve to proactively alert residents to the danger to either assist in containing the fire, or saving family members and belongings.
Get involved
‘We would like to encourage the community to sponsor R100 each so that we are able to roll out these devices to the entire area as it will definitely help to minimise the impact of fires,’ said the City’s South Peninsula Subcouncil Chairperson, Alderman Felicity Purchase.
For information on how to donate towards this cause, the community can contact Alderman Purchase via e-mail to felicity.purchase@capetown.gov.za
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