Green fire trucks hit Cape Town streets as private firefighting service launches for R35 a month

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit is joined by Fidelity CEO Wahl Bartmann to talk about their SecureFire service.

Listen below:

Have you spotted a green fire engine in Cape Town recently?

It’s not a repaint of the City’s usual red fleet. It belongs to ADT Fidelity’s SecureFire, a new private firefighting service promising speed, precision, and cutting-edge response. But how does it work alongside the City of Cape Town’s fire crews?

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"Definitely, there is a need...our strategy is national and in some areas the fire systems are much better..."

- Wahl Bartmann, CEO - Fidelity

"We've got more than 200 ADT armed response vehicles in the Cape Town area... what we've done is we've trained the officers as the first responders."

- Wahl Bartmann, CEO - Fidelity 

Bartmann explains that officers are each equipped with a large fire extinguisher and aim to reach a callout within five to six minutes.

"We've got second responders, which is a small vehicle with firemen that are trained to all the international standards, and then we've got the bigger vehicles."

- Wahl Bartmann, CEO - Fidelity 

The service is subscription-based, costing, says Baartmann, about the equivalent of a cappuccino.

"R35 a month and we're providing that service to all of our current customers as well as to any new customer."

- Wahl Bartmann, CEO - Fidelity 

Since the service was introduced two years ago, SecureFire officers have dealt with over 850 fires.

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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.