Shack fires remain one of the most devastating and recurring challenges facing many.

It's against this background that the City of Windhoek's Fire Brigade and Namib Mills' Top Score are carrying out a pilot project aimed at equipping homes with fire-combating solutions. 

For the 2024/2025 financial year, the City of Windhoek Fire Brigade responded to 569 fire incidents, of which 139 were from informal dwellings. 

This is an increase of nine cases from the 130 that were reported in the 2023/2024 year period, while this year so far seven fires have been reported. 

The introduced solution to combat this problem includes an intumescent paint, which is a fire-retardant product that could help reduce the devastating effects of shack fires in informal settlements. 

A demonstration involving painted shack structures with intumescent paint was set on fire for the audience to observe its effectiveness in slowing the spread of fire. 

The community were also introduced to and encouraged to install smoke detectors in their homes as part of early detection.

Namib Mills and the City of Windhoek's Fire Brigade have identified 40 homes for this pilot project in the Goreangab Informal Settlement.