The power Report: Burning anger after city's R7000 bill for fighting fire

The embers of Michael James's burnt-out lapa were long dead by the time he received a letter of demand from fire and emergency services.

So dead that his rebuilt lapa - the original one having gone up in flames last September - had been standing for 10 months already. His pool, also damaged, had long been fixed too.

Not surprising then that he was taken aback three weeks ago by a demand to pay R7000 to the City of Johannesburg's fire department. Not only was the lawyer's letter the first he'd learnt of the debt, but, more to the point, he hadn't expected to be billed in the first place.

"l am totally shocked that the fire department charges for this kind of service," said James. "Is this correct?"

I didn't think so. In Durban and Cape Town, fire brigade call-outs to private homes are free. I was sure this was an error. The City of Johannesburg quickly corrected me. The municipality has for years billed for emergency services based on the user-pay principle according to published tariffs.

"The bill is based on the amount of water used, the vehicles dispatched to the scene and the number of personnel that attended to the fire or incident," said emergency management services spokeswoman Nana Radebe.

"Ratepayers who are insured can submit the invoice to their insurers who have no problem settling it," she said.

Those who are uninsured can make a submission to the council, which will consider each case on merit. Those unable to pay should be registered in the "indigent register". Fires in informal settlements are treated as indigent and are not billed.

James's additional gripe was how his bill was calculated. Relatives on the scene told him when the fire truck from Turffontein arrived, the fire was out of control. Ultimately James suffered R250000 worth of damage to his Meredale property. The cause of the fire is unknown.

"After two minutes the water was finished and they were looking for a fire hydrant to connect to," said James, who had been out of town at the time. "When they found one, there was not enough water pressure to hose any more. So although they responded, they actually did nothing."

When the truck tried to leave, it stalled. "It took two hours for them to get it started and back to the fire department."

James was billed for the vehicle for five hours at R579 an hour and charged R250 an hour for each of the three firefighters, for five hours. A fee of R88 for water or foam was also added.

I queried the accuracy of the bill with Radebe and asked why James hadn't received timeous notification of the amount owing. She advised James open a query with emergency services management so an investigation could be launched.

"We would like to assure the city's community that proper procedures will be followed to resolve the matter urgently," said Radebe. The outcome of the probe would be forthcoming once finalised, she said.

James said: "It's a sad day when ratepayers have to think twice before calling emergency services in our times of dire need ... but what can one say ... what recourse do we have except pay, pay, pay?"

The concern around residents hesitating to call emergency services for fear of being billed is not lost on eThekwini's fire chief, Mark TeWater.

"It can become complicated as members of the public are encouraged to call the fire service as soon as a fire is detected ... it has been postulated that levying a fee for the delivery of emergency services may induce people to attempt to deal with a fire themselves before calling on the emergency services ... reducing the prospect of the service being able to control and extinguish the fire in its early and manageable stages."

For now, Durbanites are not billed for any type of fire, although the fire chief has the authority to bill where he believes the fire was caused deliberately or through a wrongful or negligent act.

"The current position [in Durban] is under review and it may well be that eThekwini moves towards the position of other metropolitan municipalities in the country that charge for rendering of emergency services," TeWater said.

In Cape Town, cover depends on the fire's location. The city's fire and rescue service does not charge for fires at private homes, cars or in informal settlements. But fires at business premises, apartment blocks exceeding three storeys, company cars and all vegetation fires on open land are billed. The same goes for rental properties, where the owner is billed, and guesthouses.

Tune in to PowerFM 98.7's Power Breakfast at 8.50am tomorrow to hear more from Megan

Consumer Forum

A lovely whipping

In September, I bought a 250ml container of fresh cream at Bloemfontein Preller Walk PicknPay. The next day, while preparing for a large tea party in my home, I discovered that no matter how much I whipped the cream, it would not thicken. I started to panic. I phoned the store and told the manager that he should help me by bringing to my home a replacement and that he should whip it for me. He was sympathetic, took my name and address and said he would help. I thought that some time in the future I might receive a voucher to cover the cost of the cream. Imagine my surprise and delight when very shortly afterwards I answered a knock at the door and there stood a gentleman with a container of cream already whipped to the perfect consistency. I was impressed and so were my guests when I related the story to them. For customer service, that is a hard one to beat. Incidentally, the tea party was a great success, even the large slice of humble pie which I had to swallow. Well done and many thanks to PicknPay. - Susan Killner, by e-mail

Why be adult-proof?

I like the fact that you don't confine yourself to everyday complaints, and sometimes provide more in-depth analysis. Nevertheless, the 'everyday, seemingly trivial stuff' is also important, and I have one such complaint. It's about those impenetrable barriers designed by suppliers as an impediment to opening containers. I can understand why such barriers are necessary - to prevent small children from accessing it or the theft of contents while in the shop - but they should be simple and easy to get past. This is not the case for many products. The worst is Harpic toilet cleaner. The lids of these containers have a press mechanism on either side. To open, the user is required to press the two opposing spots on the lid, using thumb and index/middle finger. The problem is that it would take a muscle man to have the strength to accomplish this task. I'm not exaggerating. My husband, who is of average build and strength, was unable to do it with his bare hands. To open the Harpic bottle, he had to use his largest and strongest pair of pliers. I would appreciate it if you took this up with the suppliers. The ideal barrier would be something simple that can easily be removed, like the plastic wrapping used on peanut butter containers. - Irene de Moor, by e-mail

Kay Kallideen, of Reckitt Benckiser responds: We regret the inconvenience caused. Each Harpic bottle is designed to open only when pressed from both sides on the cap as clearly indicated on the pack label. This cap will not open if pressed in any other way. This is to ensure that a child does not open the bottle accidentally. (Peanut butter needs to be tamper-proof, Harpic needs to be child-proof.) There may be a remote possibility that this particular cap is defective. As this is the first time we have received a complaint like this, we will arrange a courier to pick up the product for a quality check.

Don't make us squint

If pharmaceutical manufacturers are good enough to print dosages on their labels, why not make the letters big enough to be read easily? For the consumer the 'dosage' is the important part of the label and it should be bold, clear and unmistakable. - Petra, by e-mail