ROOIELS SECURITY ASSOCIATION NPC
P O BOX 44937 CLAREMONT 7735 Ph 028 273 8089; 028 273 8095 22 March 2017 Dear Rooiels Homeowners THE FIRE AND OTHER RESA UPDATES RESA extends its sympathies to the Silbernagel and Lindsay families on the tragic loss of their homes in the fire on 19 March. We also empathise with those homeowners who suffered fire damage to their properties. It was a harrowing day and night with many being evacuated from the village as the fire threat grew. The firefighting services from Overstrand, Pringle Bay, Cape Nature, Working on Fire and Cape Town did a good job and without doubt prevented greater loss of property. At the same time Rooiels can be very proud of the way the many members of the community rallied to support the firefighting efforts both directly and indirectly. The support that was given to the firefighting teams was superb and thanks to all who contributed food and refreshments as that was much needed by the fire teams some of whom who had been on shift for 24 hours by the time they stood down on Monday morning. The RESA infrastructure and many of its members were invaluable in providing support to the firefighting activities. The RESA office was opened on Sunday once the fire broke out and was the hub for much of the co-ordination activity. It remained opened throughout the night and was the depot for all the food and refreshments for the fire teams when they took well deserved breaks from the fire line. The RESA BlockWatch forum and the patrol group were very involved in supporting the firefighting. The RESA radio network became a critical communication tool as cell phone and landline communications were lost in many parts of the village as a result of the fire. The radio network enabled the users give immediate feedback to the coordinators about where threatening flare ups were taking place and this resulted in firefighting support being sent to those areas and the threat of damage to property was minimised. Somerset West Neighbourhood Watch were picking up our communications and aware of what was going on and were ready to assist if needed. The radio network is a very valuable communication and safety initiative for the village. It has been tried and tested and worked in a time of crisis and we once again encourage members to acquire a radio and become part of the Rooiels radio network. Finally a big thanks to the coordinators and all those BlockWatch and Patrol Group members who assisted in many ways to help combat the very serious fire threat that the village faced. CCTV Camera Update The installation of the RESA CCTV camera network was completed on Saturday 11 March and there are now 7 camera installations monitoring all main access points into and out of Rooiels. The cameras will be monitored from the RESA office by the response officers on duty and will also be monitored off site by volunteer groups thereby giving increased security monitoring capability. The camera network has the capability for very efficient remote monitoring and this will be a further security enhancement. The camera facing the beach is an infrared device which will provide an alert for any intrusions into the village from the beach, particularly at night. It is not a normal CCTV camera so will not project clear picture images of beach users and as such will not interfere with the personal privacy of beach users. The cameras have been a key objective for security enhancement in Rooiels and RESA will ensure they are used to maximum efficiency. A special word of thanks to the homeowners who have allowed the cameras to draw power from their homes and to Dick Lockley for the many hours of effort he put in to ensure the cameras were positioned correctly and supplied power. Key Storage Facility The RESA key storage facility is now available to members who wish to have house keys retained in Rooiels in a secure facility with controlled access to their house keys. This is a service to members at no cost. Members wishing to use the RESA key storage facility must please contact Ina van der Sandt at the RESA office to get the required documentation to make use of the service. Keys will be signed out to users and service providers authorised by homeowners with strict controls and logging of key movements. Service Providers will include ASK Security if authorised by the homeowner. Rooiels has endured and come through a very serious threat in the form of the fire. Sadly it is not without its losses and damage. There is much that will be learnt from this to ensure that any future threats of this nature find us even better prepared and able to meet our objective of enhanced safety and security in Rooiels. Mark Butler For RESA Ops Comm MAKING ROOIELS A SAFER PLACE REGISTRATION NUMBER 2014/109464/08 DIRECTORS: A D BAIGRIE, M R BUTLER
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January 2018
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