Passion and dedication — celebrating Cape Town's heroes in disaster response and rescue

Ilona Peterson, Disaster Risk Management Officer at Goodwood Fire and Rescue Station. (Photo: Siyabonga Goni)

20 Dec 2024

The City of Cape Town recently held its annual awards for civil servants with the safety and security directorate. For some of the winners who spoke to Daily Maverick, the awards are a testament to the work and the hours they’ve put in this year, including in disaster relief.

Illona Petersen and Michael Gardiner sit at the Goodwood Disaster Risk Management Centre in Cape Town beaming with pride about their service and passion for fire and rescue. For the pair — local government workers serving on the frontlines of fires and other disasters — serving communities is something they’ve always wanted to do, even early in their careers — which now cumulatively span almost 5o years.

Petersen, a disaster risk management officer, and Gardiner, a senior firefighter, recently received top recognition at the City of Cape Town's Safety and Security Directorate Awards in December.

The city’s Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, said of the awards: “it is an opportunity to recognise the exceptional dedication, hard work, and successes of the individuals and teams who work tirelessly for the residents of Cape Town.”

Daily Maverick spoke to them this week about their work and what this means to them.

Heroic efforts

On Monday, 6 May 2024, a multi-storey building collapsed in George. Over the course of the next weeks, rescue workers, support workers and residents gathered around hoping to find workers trapped in the rubble.

Gardiner was one of the rescue workers, and travelled from Cape Town. For his heroic efforts, he was praised as the Directorate Officer of the Year.

As soon as his team got the message about the disaster, they headed out keeping abreast of developments via social media.

“We gathered our gear, we got out our vehicles and the logistics were just awesome and we responded there,” he said. When he and the rest of the crew arrived in George, they immediately understood this would not be just another job.

“We packed in our sleeping bags, not knowing where we were gonna sleep. We were prepared to sleep on the road or wherever, but we wanted to get there,” he said.

Gardiner described the scene as “a little bit of chaos”, as everyone wanted to help.

Gardiner was recognised for his efforts in George, where 34 people died when the building collapsed.

Read more: Six dead and 48 missing in devastating George building collapse

Gardiner told Daily Maverick: “I will never forget when we got there, then the people, the comments of the people said, right, the Cape Town boys are here, we can start working now.”

Thus began the mammoth task of rescuing trapped workers. Gardiner said that gathered rescuers immediately began working in teams and organising breaks for one another as it was “no stops… it was continuous for days and days rescuing people and victims”.

Gardiner was involved in the rescue of a worker named Patrick, after hearing his faint cries for help. He and his partner needed to get to the worker and this meant moving into small crevices and manoeuvring past dead people who were trapped under the rubble.

Michael Gardiner, Senior Firefighter at Goodwood Fire and rescue station. He has received an award as the directorate officer of the year. (Photo: Siyabonga Goni)

“And I start digging, digging, taking bricks, bricks away and stuff,” said Gardiner.

When he eventually got to the worker — a man — his head was trapped under a big slab. Throughout this process, Gardiner had to make sure he was able to get to the man’s face. Gardiner had to move the man’s shoulder in a bid to get to his face, to assist with breathing.

“I manoeuvred his head free out of the slab… his right arm and his back were free,” he said.

But soon another problem emerged: the man’s lower body, more specifically his legs. When Gardiner tried to push the man, he could not move — and his left arm was also stuck.

“His left arm was pinned and it was also crushed under the rubble, and I asked the doctor who was assisting us, but nobody could go in. We took some pictures to show him (the doctor), and he said the only way we’re gonna get this guy out is to amputate his arm,” said Gardiner.

Through the smell of deceased flesh, and the dust and rubble around him, Gardiner had to perform an amputation in a bid to save Patrick’s life.

“Once the arm was amputated, he was free and we could take him out. That was the story of Patrick. He couldn’t feel anything, because he was in too much pain, the bone was already crushed,” he said.

Patrick was stabilised and rushed to hospital, where he spent four days in intensive care.

“A lot of people labelled us as heroes when we came back (from George), but for me, I think the true heroes are the survivors at the end of the day. To endure so much discomfort and still be alive, I think that’s the real heroes, and that’s us that’s doing our job,” said Gardiner.

Both Petersen and Gardiner spoke proudly about their service to fire and rescue. For them, serving communities is something that they wanted to do from early in their careers. Peterson has served 15 years in the Fire and Rescue Department and Gardiner has served 30 years.

‘It’s a passion for the people’

Ilona Peterson, Disaster Risk Management Officer at Goodwood Fire and Rescue Station.
(Photo: Siyabonga Goni)

In Petersen’s case, she was recognised by the city for her commitment “to her role as a field officer, from emergency response in communities affected by incidents and disasters, to emergency planning support for commerce and industry and disaster risk reduction”.

“It is a passion for the people, it’s a passion for the community. It’s getting up every day, doing something good for someone, saving a life, having empathy for people, and to assist people, that is just my main goal,” said Petersen about her job within emergency response.

According to Petersen, a big challenge is planning for fires that break out in dwellings.

“If there is a fire, it is actually very difficult for the vehicles to go into those places because there are times that they cannot even reach the place that is burning because of the dwellings that are so closely built against each other,” said Petersen.

The Western Cape is known for its natural disasters: strong summer winds leading to wildfires and, of course, winter storms. Petersen said planning was necessary to be effective.

Read more: Western Cape weather warnings remain as response teams race to help those in need

“We have contingency plans in place, we are always busy planning. We do public awareness as well for preparedness with the communities, so we go out and we teach them what to do in the event of a fire,” said Petersen.

She talked about the summer season and said Dunoon in Cape Town was a hotspot for fires in December.

“Dunoon has been affected every year, and that is between the 15th and the 24th of December. I think it’s because people are at home, people are in the festive mood also, so people party more,” said Petersen.

She started as an emergency communicator and worked up to disaster management officer. She holds a Master’s degree in the field and is a PhD candidate, all self-funded.

“I’m very dedicated to my community and my work,” she says. DM

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Heroic efforts

‘It’s a passion for the people’