Fire and Rescue International Newsletter

Cyclists raise R800 000 for children’s surgery equipment

Thirty-six cyclists successfully completed the 11th Grandads’ Army Memorial Ride from East London to Cape Town, raising R800 000 for the Eyabantwana For The Children Trust. The three cycling teams covered 1 057km over four days in a relay format, with each team completing two 50-km sections daily before finishing as a unified group at Bikini Beach in Gordon’s Bay. Alderman JP Smith said, “Our hero firefighters! When they are not on duty being “heroes,” they are taking some rest. But heroes never rest. Like our fireman Jermaine Carelse, who also doubles-up by keeping the media stations updated with incident reports. Those who can remember how he ran the 2 Oceans marathon in his full firefighting gear, in an attempt to raise funds for the Volunteer Wildfire Services. This time, his fundraising efforts saw him join a team that cycled over 1 000kms over four days, to raise funds for a hospital in East London. Our Cape Town firefighting heroes. Always on the move!”

Six years of commitment
Jermaine Carelse, a Cape Town firefighter and media spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Department, described his sixth participation in the ride as a privilege. “It is always an honour to be part of an organisation like the Eyabantwana Trust, which uses practical measures to improve children’s lives.”

The R800 000 raised will support the East London-based Eyabantwana For The Children Trust in its work improving children’s lives through enhanced medical equipment and surgical support.

He highlighted the camaraderie as one of the reasons participants return year after year, noting new people join annually to make a difference. “While I still have strength and energy I will be part of this fundraising effort.”

Dino Levendal, retired Cape Town firefighter, said: “I enjoyed the trip; it’s my eighth ride. I value the camaraderie, the teamwork, the evening get-togethers and the fun with the group. People on the ride have become friends and a family whose members look after one another. The group’s aim is to raise as much money as possible for children, equipment and hospital needs through the trust. I would love to do it next year if the Lord lets me and financially, I can afford to go. I’ll also try to get funds to get that going as well.”

Despite several mechanical problems during the journey, including bus-tyre issues, turbo-boost pipe problems and a food-trailer tyre blowout, the support teams resolved all difficulties without major delays to the cycling schedule. The cyclists overnighted at various guest houses and resorts, including stops in Cradock, Willowmore and two nights at Montagu Springs Resort, before completing its final legs to Hermanus.

After transporting their bicycles to Arabella Country Estate the teams rode together as a unified group to their destination. Western Cape Traffic and Fire Department vehicles provided an official escort along Clarence Drive for the final stretch of their journey.

The cyclists completed their fundraising ride in time to participate in the Cape Town Cycle Tour, marking a successful conclusion to their week-long charitable endeavour.

Organisers expressed satisfaction with this year’s fundraising success and confirmed plans to repeat the memorial ride next year.

Every small act of kindness has the power to change a life—please donate today and be part of something truly inspiring: https://www.eyabantwana.co.za/

Quote of the week
“What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” ~ Stephen Covey

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A major fire broke at an auto spares shop in van Riebeeck Avenue in Edenvale, Ekurhuleni on Tuesday, 10 March 2026. The response included Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) as well as private fire service companies. The fire at the Korean Motor Spares shop injured several firefighters when the roof partially collapsed on top of them. Two firefighters from Fire Ops SA were hospitalised.

A massive fire broke out on a barge carrying scrap metal in the Delaware Bay on the morning of Tuesday, 10 March 2026. The incident involved an unmanned barge being towed, which caught fire approximately two miles off Maurice River Cove, New Jersey. The US Coast Guard responded after 8am to reports of the fire and dispatched a helicopter and two boats, Petty Officer First Class Matthew West said. Local fire departments, including those from Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, also responded. A tugboat was moving the unmanned barge at the time of the fire, West said, adding there were no injuries.

A major fire broke out at the Twinsaver facility in Fabriek Street, Bellville South in Cape Town. The City’s Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to the incident at approximately 14:25 on Wednesday, 11 March 2026, according to spokesperson Jermaine Carelse. The TwinSaver facility was affected and flames also spread to nearby vegetation. Carelse said about 30 firefighters were on the scene with additional resources later mobilised to protect nearby buildings and contain the fire.

On the morning of Saturday, 28 February 2026, a high-angle rescue was performed in north Gregg County, Texas in the US, after a hot air balloon struck a 1 100-foot communications tower near the intersection of State Highway 300 and FM 1844, north of Longview. The balloon’s envelope became entangled in the tower’s structure, leaving two occupants—a man and a woman—dangling approximately 900 to 920 feet above the ground in a dangling basket. The Longview Fire Department’s Special Operations Unit, based out of Stations 2 and 5, led a gruelling, multi-hour mission to bring both occupants safely to the ground. There were 14 firefighters operating on the tower and with at least 50 responders plus several tower engineers on scene.

In Cape Town you know there’s a fire before you see or smell it. The thud thud of the big old Huey helicopters trailing buckets is a sure sign that somewhere the mountain’s burning. The call comes over the radio: smoke on the mountain. Within minutes John Mittelmeyer is pulling on his overalls and striding towards his bright-yellow helicopter. The old Bell Huey waits on its skids – a Vietnam-era veteran still earning its keep above Cape Town. He climbs in, runs through the checks, and the engine winds up with a rising scream. The rotors blur and the machine lifts into the air, banking towards a rendezvous with a water source.

A tragic line-of-duty death has shaken the city of Chicago after a firefighter succumbed to severe injuries sustained while battling a fast-moving residential fire on the Far North Side. The incident underscores the inherent dangers of modern structural firefighting and highlights the coordinated efforts of fire suppression, rescue, and emergency medical services during high-risk operations. The fire broke out on 16 March 2026, in a multi-storey apartment building in the Rogers Park neighbourhood on Chicago’s Far North Side. Fire crews from the Chicago Fire Department were dispatched shortly before 11:30am, arriving within minutes to find a structure fire that initially appeared limited but was rapidly extending vertically through the building.

City of Ekurhuleni Aquatic team in collaboration with their counterparts from the City of Johannesburg, braved the rainy and windy weather to improve their water rescue skills this morning at Germiston Lake, City of Ekurhuleni. A combined team from the two cities made of forty members, started the exercise at 09h00 by swimming from the edge of the lake to the mid-centre of the lake marked by a buoy.

In March 2026, Nebraska experienced one of the most severe wildfire outbreaks in its history. A series of fast-moving grassland fires, led by the massive Morrill Fire, burned over 800,000 acres statewide, with the largest single blaze alone exceeding 640,000 acres, making it the biggest wildfire ever recorded in the state. The fires spread rapidly across western and central Nebraska, driven by high winds, extremely low humidity and unusually dry vegetation following a lack of winter precipitation. The disaster resulted in at least one confirmed fatality, dozens of destroyed structures, mass evacuations across multiple counties and severe agricultural losses, particularly grazing land for cattle.

A quiet afternoon turned into a race against time when a fisherman looked up and saw a man trapped high in the steel girders of a Durban North bridge. His dramatic rescue features in the second episode of East Coast Radio’s SA Rescue Out Alive, a podcast from East Coast Radio’s Newswatch team. A specialised team of rescuers assembled to save a man who was stuck in the girders of Durban’s Connaught Bridge for at least two days.

A half-dozen teenagers noisily crawled on their hands and knees through a dark, empty building. Large steel tools clanged off the walls and floors, alarm bells beeped and blared continuously, and mask-muffled hollers resonated from every corner of the building. These teens weren’t getting into trouble but rather learning how they would get someone out of it. The chaotic sights and sounds of the training tower were part of a carefully orchestrated exercise helping students enrolled in Wasilla High School’s fire science class learn search and rescue techniques. The class is unique among career and technical education courses in Alaska. Instructor Gabe Bailey said no other high school in the state prepares students for careers as structural firefighters. It has already produced a handful of graduates who work at local fire departments.

This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Firefighter code of ethics written by Wayne Bailey in the US (FRI Vol 3 no 11). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.

The Weert Fire Station, completed in 2011 by BDG Architecten Ingenieurs Zwolle, serves as a modern district office and base for the local fire brigade in Weert, Netherlands. Located near the highway to ensure efficient emergency response, the facility is known for its distinctive architectural design focused on safety and functionalism. The new fire station of the district Weert has a role as District Office and it is the base of the Fire Brigade Weert. The new building is located on the same plot as the former fire station. The limited location in relation to the programme was one of the reasons for a compact organization. To realize this, the classroom, cafeteria and fitness room on the first floor are suspended, as transparent volumes, to the steel construction of the remise.

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) is continuing its efforts to protect the public and firefighters through the donation of four Unmanned Firefighting Robots designed for high-risk environments to South Korea’s National Fire Agency. A donation ceremony for the remote fire suppression robots was held in February 2026 at the National 119 Rescue Headquarters in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Running is great but when you’re on shift as a firefighter, you don’t always have the luxury. This kettlebell workout burns 2x the calories in half the time as a long run. That’s why I reach for kettlebells when I’m tight on time and space at the firehouse but still want to build functional fitness, durability, mobility and cardio fitness.

Source: Mitch Gourley

This video demonstrates a quick and easy drag that is best utilised when the rescuer has no choose put to stay low under high heat conditions.

Source: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Training Division

In 1981 the Johannesburg Fire Department in South Africa ran campaign designed to recruit a number of British firemen to join their ranks. Being young, newly married with no children it sounded like an exciting adventure. I applied and was one of those chosen along with about a dozen or other guys. We were offered a five-year contract with a relocation package to move to South Africa.