![](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/15501dac-9364-581b-8caf-0144684353d8&operation=CROP&offset=156x0&resize=1893x1065.jpg\")
<\/div>\nTHE Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said on Friday it has activated steps for the procurement of an independent specialist engineering team to conduct further detailed assessments on damage caused by fire in Parliament.<\/p>\n
This comes after the department\u2019s internal professional team of engineers conducted and concluded a high level preliminary visual assessment of the damage, including the safety aspect of the site, of the parts of Parliament damaged by fire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In a statement, the department said the internal professional team of engineers arrived in Cape Town on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
The team was provided access for the inside walk inspection of the Old and New Assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately due to the high temperatures in the building on Monday 3 January 2022 and the flare up on the side of the National Assembly around 17h00 which continued right through the night, the professional team could only commence with their assessment late Tuesday 4 January 2022 afternoon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
MORE ON THIS<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cThe professional team\u2019s visual assessment started with the Old National Assembly and then proceeded to assess the structural damages on the New National Assembly,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
It also said the preliminary visual inspections showed there was evidence of severe structural damage to the slabs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe slabs affected by the damage are on the second, third and fourth floor. In addition to the above there are major cracks in the walls on the second and third floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe department said the professional team recommended that the New Assembly Building be cordoned off and closed with immediate effect in order to restrict access.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department has activated appropriate steps for the procurement of an independent specialist engineering team to conduct further detailed assessments and testing of material strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cNational Treasury has agreed to expedite the process to procure the independent specialist engineering team as expeditiously as possible,\u201d said the department.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nMeanwhile, Parliament said that the report of the City of Cape Town\u2019s Fire Department, which it received on Friday on the blaze in the parliamentary complex, would assist the ongoing investigations that are under way.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed that the presiding officers had received the fire and safety report from City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.<\/p>\n
Mothapo said the report contained preliminary observations of the firefighters during the course of their work, which was a standard procedure when dealing with incidents of this nature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe information does not, in any way, purport to provide conclusive findings and evidence regarding the cause and the circumstances surrounding the fire that gutted certain buildings at the Parliamentary precinct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe responsibility to investigate the source of the fire rests with the law enforcement agencies, and their investigation is currently under way,\u201d Mothapo said.<\/p>\n
He also said the fire department\u2019s report was important and would assist the ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThese investigations must be afforded space to unfold. Parliament will only comment after these investigations are concluded and we are confident that they will be finalised in due course, and will provide concrete evidence and findings regarding the fire,\u201d Mothapo said.<\/p>\n
He made the statement after the City of Cape Town\u2019s fire department said earlier that it found that the sprinkler system was last serviced in 2017.<\/p>\n
This emerged in a report the city made public, with Hill-Lewis saying it was a post-incident report, prepared by the city\u2019s fire department on the fire that engulfed Parliament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cIn the interests of transparency, and following great public interest, we release it publicly without any additional comment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The report, dated January 4, said it was not \u201can official\u201d fire report on the incident that left extensive damage to the Old Assembly and the National Assembly.<\/p>\n
In the report, divisional commander Wayne Visser said he did a \u201cbrief check\u201d of fire suppression equipment and related fire safety matters at the Old Assembly building site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe external fire hydrants were well marked and maintained; adequate access provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sprinkler control valve set on the southern fa\u00e7ade of the Old Assembly building had not activated. Sprinklers did not activate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sprinklers were last serviced in 2017, with service scheduled for (February) 2020,\u201d Visser said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nHe also said it was unclear which portion of the building was actually fitted out with sprinklers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe required layout block plan at the valve set was illegible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the fire detection and alarm was present but he was uncertain of the extent of the system, because of the extensive damage that had occurred.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nVisser also said general fire informational signage was well presented although some non-SABS signs were found.<\/p>\n
\u201cA major contributing factor to the excessive heat and smoke encountered throughout the building was the open-latching of fire doors onto the fire escape staircases, using small metal latches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2019rabbit warren\u2019 of locked office configurations, off feeder passages, negatively affected any ventilation occurring from inner spaces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAccording to Visser, the emergency staircases were poorly ventilated with minimal natural vents encountered to the outside, and that no mechanical venting of the staircases was observed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWall panelling and d\u00e9cor materials presented additional fire loading throughout the building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said on Friday it has activated steps for the procurement of an independent specialist engineering team to conduct further detailed assessments on damage caused by fire in Parliament. This comes after the department\u2019s internal professional team of engineers conducted and concluded a high level preliminary visual assessment of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-914331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cThe professional team\u2019s visual assessment started with the Old National Assembly and then proceeded to assess the structural damages on the New National Assembly,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
It also said the preliminary visual inspections showed there was evidence of severe structural damage to the slabs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe slabs affected by the damage are on the second, third and fourth floor. In addition to the above there are major cracks in the walls on the second and third floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The department said the professional team recommended that the New Assembly Building be cordoned off and closed with immediate effect in order to restrict access.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department has activated appropriate steps for the procurement of an independent specialist engineering team to conduct further detailed assessments and testing of material strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cNational Treasury has agreed to expedite the process to procure the independent specialist engineering team as expeditiously as possible,\u201d said the department.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meanwhile, Parliament said that the report of the City of Cape Town\u2019s Fire Department, which it received on Friday on the blaze in the parliamentary complex, would assist the ongoing investigations that are under way.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed that the presiding officers had received the fire and safety report from City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.<\/p>\n
Mothapo said the report contained preliminary observations of the firefighters during the course of their work, which was a standard procedure when dealing with incidents of this nature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe information does not, in any way, purport to provide conclusive findings and evidence regarding the cause and the circumstances surrounding the fire that gutted certain buildings at the Parliamentary precinct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe responsibility to investigate the source of the fire rests with the law enforcement agencies, and their investigation is currently under way,\u201d Mothapo said.<\/p>\n
He also said the fire department\u2019s report was important and would assist the ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThese investigations must be afforded space to unfold. Parliament will only comment after these investigations are concluded and we are confident that they will be finalised in due course, and will provide concrete evidence and findings regarding the fire,\u201d Mothapo said.<\/p>\n
He made the statement after the City of Cape Town\u2019s fire department said earlier that it found that the sprinkler system was last serviced in 2017.<\/p>\n
This emerged in a report the city made public, with Hill-Lewis saying it was a post-incident report, prepared by the city\u2019s fire department on the fire that engulfed Parliament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIn the interests of transparency, and following great public interest, we release it publicly without any additional comment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The report, dated January 4, said it was not \u201can official\u201d fire report on the incident that left extensive damage to the Old Assembly and the National Assembly.<\/p>\n
In the report, divisional commander Wayne Visser said he did a \u201cbrief check\u201d of fire suppression equipment and related fire safety matters at the Old Assembly building site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe external fire hydrants were well marked and maintained; adequate access provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sprinkler control valve set on the southern fa\u00e7ade of the Old Assembly building had not activated. Sprinklers did not activate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sprinklers were last serviced in 2017, with service scheduled for (February) 2020,\u201d Visser said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
He also said it was unclear which portion of the building was actually fitted out with sprinklers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe required layout block plan at the valve set was illegible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the fire detection and alarm was present but he was uncertain of the extent of the system, because of the extensive damage that had occurred.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Visser also said general fire informational signage was well presented although some non-SABS signs were found.<\/p>\n
\u201cA major contributing factor to the excessive heat and smoke encountered throughout the building was the open-latching of fire doors onto the fire escape staircases, using small metal latches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2019rabbit warren\u2019 of locked office configurations, off feeder passages, negatively affected any ventilation occurring from inner spaces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
According to Visser, the emergency staircases were poorly ventilated with minimal natural vents encountered to the outside, and that no mechanical venting of the staircases was observed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWall panelling and d\u00e9cor materials presented additional fire loading throughout the building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said on Friday it has activated steps for the procurement of an independent specialist engineering team to conduct further detailed assessments on damage caused by fire in Parliament. This comes after the department\u2019s internal professional team of engineers conducted and concluded a high level preliminary visual assessment of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-914331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}