The Tshwane fire brigade has defended its practice of issuing invoices for every fire or accident it attends.
“It is not new for the fire brigade services to issue invoices for accidents as well as other types of incidents,” Tshwane fire safety deputy chief Steve Combrink said on Tuesday.
“This has been in the approved council report on tariffs for some time now.”
The Beeld newspaper reported that the Tshwane fire brigade had started issuing invoices for every call-out.
Combrink said: “Should people be involved in vehicle accidents or fires and they need our assistance, even if another person phoned, then yes, they will be invoiced.”
This was to cover service delivery costs.
Combrink said the city was not the only one issuing invoices for call-outs.
“It is not as if we are now suddenly starting to issue invoices... we have been doing this for a few years already.”
He said if a fire broke out at a vacant space, the person who called the fire brigade would not be invoiced. - Sapa