Western Cape urban search and rescue response to the George building collapse; a provincial perspective

By Colin Deiner, chief director, Disaster Management and Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government

Monday, 6 May 2024, will be remembered by many people as a day that changed their careers and, in many cases, their lives, forever. In this article I will provide my own observations of the operations and touch on the history of technical rescue in the Western Cape and how we were able to respond to this incident and manage it to its successful conclusion. I hope I will do the responders and the pioneers of this discipline justice. They thoroughly deserve it.

On that Monday, I was meeting with our provincial Disaster Operations Director in my office just after 14h00, when I received an urgent phone call from the George Fire Department Chief Fire Officer, CFO Neels Barnard, who informed me that a fivestorey residential building, which was in the final stages of its construction, had collapsed and that several construction workers were missing. My immediate reaction was to activate the full capacity of the Western Cape Emergency Response System and get them to George as soon as possible. The first decision was to activate the Provincial Disaster Management Centre from where we could collectively determine what was needed and how we would respond our resources. It was agreed that a core group would try to get to George as soon as possible to determine the conditions at ground zero and report back to Cape Town on the most critical needs.

After a faster than normal road trip, we arrived in George around 21h00 and was met by Chief Barnard, who proceeded to brief us on the situation and the immediate needs. Several first responders from the George Fire Department and Provincial Emergency Medical Rescue Services were already on the scene and had, at that stage, rescued approximately 20 construction workers. The George Municipality had acted very quickly and ensured that sufficient lighting had been installed to ensure that operations could proceed through the hours of darkness.

By the time of our arrival, the Provincial Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Unit had already responded with a team of rescue technicians from its base in the Breede Valley. The Provincial Department of Health and Wellness had responded with additional rescue technicians from various bases and their Heavy Rescue Unit from Cape Town. We had also requested the City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services to respond with one of their Heavy Rescue Units together with a team of rescue technicians. The bulk of the team from Cape Town was made up of experienced rescue technicians who, just a year earlier, had responded to the major flooding disaster that had struck the KwaZulu-Natal coast and cost the lives of more than 140 people.

When the sun rose on the morning of Tuesday, 7 May 2024, most of the resources that were needed had arrived and were being deployed to the six sectors identified by Incident Command (IC). What followed over the next 10 days was a herculean effort by more than 200 rescuers and approximately 400 support personnel that led to 28 people rescued and 39 bodies recovered. The incident grabbed the imagination of the nation and many people sat glued to the various television and online news channels to stay updated on the events as they unfolded. Senior media reporters from all the mainstream media outlets in the country converged onto the town and literally camped out on the space provided to them from where they reported on all aspects of the operation, ranging from the actual rescue to the humanitarian efforts and the family members of the victims. As the actual events that transpired are well covered by other contributors in this publication, I will focus on the response by the various provincial services and their activities.

Provincial capacity

The Western Cape Province has a rich history in the development of technical rescue dating back to the 80s when the legendary Dr Alan McMahon recognised the need for a specialized rescue capability which focused, among others, on the operation of cranes for rescue purposes and management of victims trapped underneath heavy loads. The formation of the Metro Rescue System was further developed by Dr Cleeve Robertson and Dr Wayne Smith, who were instrumental in creating a world-class rescue service. The introduction of structural collapse by the rescue manager, Neville van Rensburg, established Metro Rescue as the leading rescue service in the country. The Western Cape Chief Fire Officers Committee, which is representative of the municipal and designated fire services in the province, also identified the need for a dedicated USAR system in the province and established the Western Cape USAR working group who played a leading role in the programme as it currently exists.

A large amount of work was done prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup to develop an integrated system, which included the acquisition of a broad range of equipment and an ongoing training programme to ensure a good number of rescue technicians available for any major technical rescue incidents. The province currently maintains a register of approximately 130 rescue technicians who are employed as rescuers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel in their normal day but can be made available when needed.

Another important component of this endeavor is the Western Cape Incident Command System (ICS), which has been developed over several years and is utilised during the summer seasons when the province is affected by frequent large wildfires. The ICS is specifically designed to manage all aspects of a major incident in which large numbers of responders are involved. All services are required to implement this system during major emergencies and annual refresher training is provided to ensure that they are kept current and brought up to speed on any new developments in the system.

A further vital cog in the system is the network of NGOs and volunteer organisations that give of their time to work beside the formal services in the various rescue operations across the province.

With its long coastlines and outdoor environment, which is conducive to outdoor activities, the South African Police Services Divers and Rescue Team are valuable partners as are NGOs such as SARZA, who not only provide their specialised offroad rescue skills but also their impressive command and control application, which they are able to deploy for a wide range of eventualities.

In a previous article I discussed the Western Cape Fire Services Mutual Aid Agreement and the benefits it holds for, particularly, wildfire response in the summer season.

The agreement was instrumental in the province being able to deploy 1 108 firefighters within two days to the Knysna wildfire disaster in 2017. The agreement was invoked several times during one of the busiest wildfire seasons in the province’s history between December and April this year and set the trend for a large, combined response to George in May 2024.

Deployment in George

The deployment of the Provincial Disaster Management Centre staff to George was the fifth major incident that they had managed following the large wildfires in January and February 2024, a 10day regional electricity black-out in the Central Karoo district in March 2024 and widespread flooding in April 2024. The ever increasing volume of major incidents that they are confronted with has had the advantage of building a solid base of operational experience. I must stress that the Western Cape disaster management system doesn’t only consist of the full time staff employed in the centre but includes a wide range of disciplines ranging across the disaster management spectrum including rescue, infrastructure, health, humanitarian and security services. Most of these people have been involved in disaster response in some form since the 2017 “Day Zero” drought disaster and have dealt with many diverse incidents since then.

No report back on this disaster will be complete if we don’t mention the community of the town who arrived on the first day and provided meals and sustenance to the many people working on the scene. They were there from the first day until the final hours and, in that time, provided thousands of meals and drinks at all hours. I was personally inspired by the display of support by this remarkable group of people. They also had to endure the trauma of the teams who inevitably migrated to the rest area for a coffee or a meal after recovering a victim dead or alive. They took it in their stride and (just like the rescuers) put the pain and trauma behind them and continued with their task.

Decisions

The first objective of the Incident Command Team was to ensure the safety of the rescue and support teams, which would enable the saving of lives. It was important to manage the expectations of the public, media and the rescue teams who were encouraged by the frequent shouts by people still trapped beneath floor slabs.

Management of fatigue became an important added priority and soon a system was introduced where teams were rotated off the site and forced to rest before returning for the next “shift”.

Continuous arrangements needed to be made for prolonged work in the darkness and, at one point, a threat of rain also required us to plan for that eventuality.

Encouraged by the signs of life in several places, the decision was made to stay in ‘Rescue Mode’ for as long as possible and to adapt our tactics to support this strategy. Rescuers were for the first time exposed to entirely foreign conditions such as one trapped victim who was able to communicate with his family using his cellphone. The victim was advised that, to save battery life, to only turn his phone on at certain times. He was rescued on the Tuesday evening.

After the rescue of four survivors on day three it was decided to continue in rescue mode for as long as there was a possibility of finding a live victim. Many of the decisions were dictated by the instability of the structure. On day three, it became necessary to find a way to delayer the five floors that had formed a “pancake” collapse over most of the structure. The size of the slabs was huge and this necessitated cutting them into manageable sizes, which could be removed by crane. This decision resulted in a considerable slowing down of activities, which created a fair amount of confusion and anguish among the bystanders and families of the victims who thought that the rescue operation was ending. A hurried media briefing was called and, with the expert help of Prof Richard Walls of Stellenbosch University, we were able to explain the reasons for our decision. Prof Walls had contacted us on the morning after the collapse and offered his services, which we immediately accepted. After rearranging his schedule and getting replacements for his lecturing duties at the engineering faculty, he made his way to George where he provided critically important advice on the stabilisation and removal of the slabs.

Another important decision that was made was to contract the services of a specialist demolition company to assist in the delayering process. We were fortunate to have access to the services of a company with an excellent track record in focused demolition work and operating in limited spaces. Ross Demolition arrived late on day four and, after a short planning session, deployed their equipment in support of the operations. The risk of damage to entrapped victims is high when heavy demolition equipment is deployed and this necessitated the placement of additional look-outs at strategic points around the machinery. This proved to be a good decision as it accelerated the effort and allowed the teams to quickly access more victims and remove them with more ease.

The Miracle on Victoria Street

Even though the last live victims had been recovered late on the third day, it was decided to stay in rescue mode and not to move over to recovery mode. The reasons for this decision were that we were able to access more voids with the demolition equipment and that the rotation of our rescue teams was ensuring a high working tempo. On Saturday, 11 May 2024, late morning, rescue dogs detected a victim after a layer had been removed in a sector designated close to the lift shaft. A second dog verification and subsequent seismic and acoustic search indicated that the victim was still alive. Communication was established with him soon after and then followed a careful process, which entailed core drilling at identified points to determine the extent of entrapment and explore the options for releasing him. After a careful and focussed operation, Gabriel Guambe was rescued after being trapped for 118 hours.

For many of the people involved, this single event represented the combined success of all the days and hours of dedicated effort by so many people. The Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, who was passing Mossel Bay on his way back to Cape Town when he was informed of the live rescue, immediately had his driver turn his vehicle around to George where he was among the first to congratulate the teams.

Final observations

There have been several reports and presentations made about this incident and many positive (and some negative) observations have been made by various people. Some of my own observations are the following:

• Capacity: In 2012 the Western Cape Government took the decision to improve the capacity of fire and rescue services in the province and what followed was a capacity building programme, which ensured that every fire and rescue service in the province receiving new vehicles and equipment over the next 12 years. This did not only improve the local capability but also, together with the capacity of the Western Cape Emergency Medical Services capacity, greatly strengthened the combined provincial response to major incidents.

• Early response is crucial: The fact that a response was initiated on this scale immediately after the call for assistance, ensured that specialist skills and equipment could be deployed within a few hours of incident and ultimately the significant number of lives saved.

• Support: The unconditional support provided by the Premier of the Western Cape Province and the relevant cabinet minister and department heads, meant that whatever equipment was needed, was made available without delay. The Minister responsible for Disaster Management in the province, Minister Anton Bredell, arrived on the Monday evening and was present throughout the rescue phase of the operation to ensure that any assistance was provided.

• Plan together: The importance of planning and practicing together can’t be overstated. Emergency services in Western Cape spend many hours planning for the risks identified as part of our risk assessment process. That was evident when many of these groups were called upon to carry out this mission.

In closing

The commitment I observed over the 11 days and one hour that passed from the moment of the collapse to when the site was handed back to the relevant authorities, has left me with an enormous sense of gratitude. I was privileged to have played a small part in this mission. For that I will forever be thankful.

Photos courtesy of Deirdré Cloete, Deds Photography