Safe

Flame Stove on Fire

Safe

The flame stoves used throughout Monwabisi Park were causes for serious concerns regarding the safety of the people.  Fires are a large concern in Monwabisi Park because paraffin flame stoves are unstable and could explode if tipped over.  After speaking with Cindy Jacobs, a project manager working for the City of Cape Town Environmental Resource Management department and our project sponsor, we learned the severity of the problem of fires in informal settlements.  Fires are a particularly urgent issue because fire trucks cannot reach many sections of the park because of the narrow roads.  Fires therefore spread quickly and little could be done to stop them.  One such case was in 1999, when there were seven major fires caused by paraffin at the Joe Slovo settlement outside of Cape Town.  887 homes were burnt down and several people died.  Most people lost everything, with no chance of compensation.  Every year over 200,000 people are affected by paraffin-related fires (Ward, 2008). When we walked around the community speaking with residents about their stoves, all agreed that flame stoves were dangerous to use.  For these reasons, safety became a primary concern for us while looking into new stoves for the Park.