Emergency Management Services
Overview
The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) is the lifeline of Africa’s most vibrant metropolis, protecting the lives and property of nearly 6.13 million residents across more than 1 645 square kilometres.
The Department’s primary mission is to provide fire protection, rescue services, and fire prevention, along with other essential public safety services, to all who live, work, and visit Johannesburg. The service operates through highly trained divisions in firefighting, rescue operations, proactive services, supported by advanced equipment and continuous training that meets international standards.
Established in 1890, the City of Johannesburg EMS has grown into one of the largest and most advanced emergency services units in Africa. Operating from 31 strategically located fire stations across the City’s seven regions, the department responds to approximately 250 000 emergency calls every year.
Guided by its vision to be “a leading, world-class African emergency management service,” Johannesburg EMS remains committed to safeguarding lives, property, and the environment through rapid response, professionalism, and community-focused service delivery. Every day, our firefighters, paramedics, and rescue professionals stand ready — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — to serve with courage and dedication.
The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) aims to become a Leading, World-Class, African Emergency Management Service. Its core business is saving lives and property through pro-active interventions and preventative programmes. In this way it hopes to mitigate the costs of risk coverage for residents.
EMS will be the leader in the provision of emergency management services in Africa by pro-actively preserving life and property. It will achieve this through developing and deploying an effective human resources function, providing modern equipment and through community empowerment and education drives
EMS core mandate is to save lives and property through rending of quality emergency, fire, rescue services, disaster management and public information education and relations (PIER), and bylaw enforcement within and beyond the borders of the City.
Strategic objectives:
- To empower communities with education and awareness on dangers of fire and empowerment on fire prevention programmes.
- To be a vigilant custodian of safety prescripts, by enforcing the city`s bylaws through Fire Safety.
- To provide efficient and effective response to emergency incidents of fire, Rescue and any others.
- To provide efficient and effective support through quality evidence, result PAIA driven support.
Projects and programmes
The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) is committed to providing a sustainable emergency service to all the citizens of Joburg. It contributes directly to the City’s vision and priorities through its reactive and proactive services.
Through its proactive services, the unit plays a direct role in changing residents’ perceptions of their own safety. Through its reactive services, it is committed to ensuring that response times of fire & rescue services are world standard.
It continuously develops programmes and awareness campaigns to enhance service delivery. These are informed by the risk profile that the City develops and updates regularly to ensure consistent monitoring relevance of the services.
Some of the EMS programmes are:
BESAFE: Basic Emergencies, Safety and Fire Education programme is an injury prevention and disaster preparedness programme geared especially towards young children. It is designed to help children and families to create safer homes and communities by giving them appropriate skills and knowledge.
There are twelve BESAFE Centres in the City – Alexandra; Berea; Central; Cosmo City; Dube; Eldorado Park; Florida Park; Ivory Park; Jabulani; Orange Farm; Protea Glen; and Randburg.
Seasonal Safety Awareness Campaigns
The Safety Awareness Campaign is an ongoing, year-round public education programme designed to equip communities with essential knowledge to stay safe during high-risk periods and everyday life. Through targeted messaging and community outreach, the campaign promotes vigilance and preparedness across the City of Johannesburg.
- Summer Safety: Water, Flood & Heatwave Preparedness
- During the summer months, EMS intensifies awareness around water safety, flood risks, and heatwave protection. Communities receive guidance on safe swimming practices, avoiding flash-flood hazards, recognising heat-related illnesses, and protecting vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly.
- Winter Fire Safety & Burns Prevention
- In winter, the campaign focuses on reducing fire incidents and burn injuries—especially in high-risk areas. Residents are educated on safe heating practices, the dangers of illegal electrical connections, correct use of candles and open flames, and how to respond to burns and household fires.
- Year-Round Fire Safety Education
- Beyond seasonal risks, the campaign reinforces everyday fire safety behaviour, promoting safe cooking, proper use of electrical appliances, early reporting of hazards, and general household preparedness.
Disaster Management Volunteers
- Unit of volunteers;
- General volunteers; and
- Spontaneous volunteers.
- Orientation course;
- Basic first aid;
- Basic firefighting;
- Introduction to disaster management;
- Introduction to fire safety;
- Introduction to events management; and
- Introduction to public information, education and relations.
Directorates
The Emergency Management Services (EMS) Directorates:
- Operations is the frontline of the City’s Emergency Management Services. Operating 24/7, it responds to fires, rescues, water incidents, and hazardous materials disasters. Our personnel, known as Firefighters/EMTs (FF/EMTs) – are dual-trained to fight fires and provide life-saving medical care and rescue services. Specialised teams also manage hazardous materials incidents throughout the City. Operations also manages the EMS Control Centre, which receives emergency calls and dispatches fire and rescue teams to incidents across Johannesburg.
- ProActive Services & PIER serves as the prevention, education, and compliance arm of EMS. It is responsible for enforcing fire safety codes, managing event safety, and applying regulations to ensure compliance. Through risk reduction initiatives, public education, and rigorous safety standards for buildings, the Directorate works to prevent emergencies before they occur and create safer communities.
- Corporate Services and Academy supports the EMS with a wide range of services, including training, fleet management, administrative services and metropolitan emergency support services (MESS) that provide rehabilitation services for first responders. Some of its key programmes are the chaplaincy service and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP).
- Strategic Support drives the department’s communications, marketing, quality assurance, research, transformation, and employment equity initiatives. It oversees all strategic and business planning processes, including sector plans and performance scorecards. The directorate also leads organisational research, process optimisation, capacity building, performance management, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation to ensure continuous improvement across EMS.
There are a number of laws and policies that govern the core functions of the EMS: the Fire Brigade Act; the Disaster Management Act, the Municipal Systems Act, the Health Services Act, the Road Traffic Act, the Veld and Forest Fire Act and the Communication Act.
The Operations Directorate is the core and most visible arm of the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS). It is responsible for delivering frontline emergency response services to protect lives, property, and the environment across all seven regions of the City. Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Directorate ensures that help reaches communities swiftly and effectively during moments of crisis.
The Operations team responds to a wide range of emergency incidents, including:
- Firefighting
Operations personnel extinguish structural, industrial, informal settlement, and veld fires. Their role includes search and rescue, fire suppression, protecting adjacent structures, and preventing further spread.
- Rescue Services
Highly skilled teams attend to motor vehicle accidents, building collapses, entrapments, and other technical rescue scenarios. This includes high-angle rescue, confined-space rescue, and emergency extrication.
- Aquatic Rescue
Specialised water rescue crews respond to flooding, swift-water incidents, drowning emergencies, and water-related disasters – particularly during Johannesburg’s high-rainfall seasons.
- Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) Response
Some firefighters are specially trained to handle hazardous materials incidents. They identify, contain, and mitigate chemical spills, gas leaks, and other dangerous substances that pose risks to residents and the environment.
Firefighters and EMTs (FF/EMTs)
Personnel within the Directorate are known as Firefighters/Emergency Medical Technicians (FF/EMTs).
They are dual-trained to:
- Combat fires
- Perform life-saving rescue interventions
- Provide emergency pre-hospital medical care
- Respond to trauma and medical emergencies
Their combined firefighting and medical expertise allows them to deliver comprehensive emergency services from the moment they arrive on scene.
As the frontline of EMS, the Operations Directorate is critical to safeguarding Johannesburg’s communities. Through rapid intervention, skilled personnel, specialised units, and a highly coordinated dispatch system, the Directorate ensures that the City receives professional emergency services – day and night.
The directorate focuses on fire safety; looking at code application; code enforcement and events management, among others.
Its core business is being the custodian of safety standards to ensure that fire risks are managed proactively when hazmat (hazardous material) is transported, events are hosted, buildings are erected or renovated and flammable liquids are stored.
It ensures that buildings comply with the National Building Regulations set out in the SANS 10400. It also informs and advises occupants about safety precautions and storing flammable liquids and gas. It deals with both business and private premises. Where necessary punitive measures are taken if there is a gross non-compliance or repeat non-compliance. Working with other City departments, this directorate plays a critical role in Joburg’s inner city initiatives.
Joburg’s rapid expansion has led to an increase in the number of fire-related emergencies because of poor adherence to fire safety precautions and fire code applications by the building industry. This has led to increased fire risks – and, as a result, the EMS has set up preventative fire safety programmes.
Its functions include:
- The application and enforcement of municipal by-laws and other safety legislation relating to fire by means of the routine inspection of buildings and fire plans;
- Ensuring the implementation of sound fire engineering principles and practices by liaising with the public, consultants, architects and a wide range of technical committees and professional bodies;
- The prevention of uncontrolled fires through lectures and film shows to the public;
- In the event of a fire, ensuring its intensity and duration is limited by empowering the public to handle such an emergency;
- Determining the cause of a fire and using the information gathered to inform awareness campaigns, including legislative compliance; and
- Management of fire works storage, transportation and display in public places.
Public Information, Education and Relations (PIER) Unit
The PIER Unit is the public education and outreach arm of the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (CoJ EMS). Its primary role is to empower communities with the knowledge and skills they need to prevent emergencies, respond effectively, and reduce injuries, fatalities and property loss across the City.
What the PIER Unit Does
- Fire & Life Safety Education
The Unit develops and delivers public information programmes based on ward-specific risk assessments to ensure that every community receives relevant, targeted safety education. This includes awareness on fire prevention, home safety, emergency readiness, first aid basics, and everyday life-saving practices.
- Public Information & Communication
PIER manages the flow of emergency-related information within the Public Safety Department and ensures that critical messages are accessible to residents through campaigns, media platforms, and community networks. The Unit works closely with stakeholders to keep the public informed and prepared.
- Community Training & B.E.S.A.F.E Programme
As custodians of the B.E.S.A.F.E (Basic Emergency Safety and Fire Education) programme, the PIER Unit oversees all scheduling, coordination and administration of training sessions for schools, businesses, community groups and vulnerable households.
- Emergency Support During Major Incidents
During large-scale emergencies, the Unit plays an active role by supporting response efforts, disseminating accurate information, and helping communities understand the extent of EMS services.
- Community Engagement & Stakeholder Relations
Through partnerships, outreach activities and safety campaigns, the PIER Unit strengthens relationships between EMS and the public, promoting trust, awareness, and a culture of safety across Johannesburg.
A safer city begins with an informed community. The PIER Unit ensures that residents not only understand the risks around them but also know how to prevent emergencies and respond when they occur. By bridging EMS services with the community, the Unit helps reduce injuries, saves lives, and builds a more resilient Johannesburg.
Corporate services renders an all-important support function to the other EMS directorates, making it possible for each directorate to perform its life-saving role.
Training academy
Firefighters and emergency medical technicians (FF/EMTs) are trained in-house at the EMS’s academy in Brixton, Rietfontein and Florida Park. The academy is accredited national and internationally, and internationally accredited instructors conduct most levels of training.
There is also career-oriented training for existing staff and new recruits as well for private individuals who want to be trained as firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Ongoing classroom and on-the-job training is provided to ensure the highest level of competence in the use of expensive, state-of-the-art and sophisticated equipment, the aim being to optimise manpower and resources.
EMS academies offers high level training in line with national and international standards, resulting in world accepted levels of competence in emergency management services. Courses on offer vary from basic fire fighting and first aid training to more advanced training in hazardous materials, vehicle rescue and basic ECG interpretation.
The following programmes offered:
- Basic Fire Fighting – 1 Day Course
- Fire Marshall – 3 Days Course
- First Aid Level 1 – 3 Days Course
- First Aid Level 2 – 3 Days Course
- First Aid Level 3 – 7 – 10 Days Course
- Health & Safety Rep – 2.5 Days Course
- HIV/AIDS in the Workplace – 2.5 Days Course
- COJEMS SHEMAC – 14 Days Course
All enquiries related to training should be directed to the
Brixton Commercial Training Academy
3 Brixton Road,
Brixton
tirot@joburg.org.za or moemedib@joburg.org.za
Among the critical aspects in this directorate are communications and marketing, quality assurance and research, transformation and employment equity, and special projects.
Some of the work it does is departmental planning; for example, sector planning, business plans and scorecards. It also deals with organisational research, processes, capacity building, performance management, support, monitoring and review.
Communications and marketing
Communications and marketing deals with internal communication in the organisation. In line with City processes and protocols, it also deals with external communication to ensure the good image of the department. Another responsibility is establishing its branding policy.
Quality assurance and research
The ISO 9000 programme was adopted to ensure the customer gets the best service. The quality assurance division is responsible for implementing this programme and ensuring that all the necessary implementation, support and monitoring plans are in place. It also ensures that implementation is reviewed at the end of the programme.
Transformation and employment equity
To ensure that the department complies with the necessary transformation imperatives, the transformation and employment equity division looks at broader equity and the necessary interventions to ensure that the organisation is transformed.
Special projects
This division deals with all the organisational planning processes, like public safety sector plans, business plans and performance management. It also handles aspects like audits, process reviews and support programmes.
EMS by-laws
EMS By-Laws
The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) is mandated to protect life, property, and the environment. To support this responsibility, the City has adopted a set of by-laws that govern how fire safety, emergency preparedness, hazardous materials, and related activities must be managed.
This guide provides an easy-to-understand overview of the key requirements contained in the EMS By-Laws and explains what residents, businesses, developers, and event organisers must do to comply.
Purpose of the EMS By-Laws
The EMS By-Laws are designed to:
- Prevent fires and emergencies before they occur
- Regulate fire safety standards in buildings, public spaces, and industrial facilities
- Control the handling and transport of hazardous materials
- Ensure rapid access for emergency responders
- Promote public safety, preparedness, and compliance
By following these by-laws, the City creates safer communities and reduces the risk of injury, property damage, and environmental harm.
Building a Safer City Together
The EMS By-Laws exist to protect lives and ensure that Johannesburg remains a safe, resilient, and prepared city. Compliance is everyone’s responsibility – residents, businesses, developers, and event organisers all play a vital role.
For more Media Enquiries contact:
- Robert Mulaudzi – Communication Manager
- Call: 075 474 6925
- Xolile Khumalo – Media Liaison Officer
- Call: 075 436 9790