Fuel increases put rescue services on the rocks

The high cost of fuel has meant that organisations involved in rescue operations and ambulance services are feeling the pinch.

For rescue services like the National Sea Rescue Institute the figures on the dotted lines reveal a bleak picture.

A higher than expected petrol price will mean they will run out of petrol two months ahead of schedule. Meriel Bartlett, Sea Rescue Marketing Manager, said although they had allowed for the normal cost of living increase, fuel hikes had hit them hard.

"There are two main aspects where the fuel is mainly used and that is in our rescue and training operations. There is no way we can compromise either of them," she said.

This year Sea Rescue budgeted for 118 554 litres of fuel, which translates to around R492 000.

"The price hikes will add a further R94 842 to the bill, bringing our total fuel cost for 2005 to R586 842," said Bartlett. Sea Rescue gets R440 000 towards their fuel from BP, Caltex and Engen.

"The unsponsored portion of R52 000 would have been covered by individual donations," explains Bartlett.

"But the price hikes have pushed this shortfall to R146 842. We will have to do some fast thinking to stay afloat. All we can hope for is that one of the other fuel companies will 'top up our tanks' with a R100 000 pledge."

With 700 volunteers and a fleet of 53 rescue boats, Sea Rescue is ready for any eventuality, but without fuel they could be stranded, she said.

The NSRI played an instrumental part in attempting to retrieve the bodies of the 14 fishermen who died off Port Elizabeth this week.

South African Police Service spokesperson Supt Vish Naidoo said the police would not allow petrol hikes, no matter how many in a short space of time, to compromise service delivery.

"We can't reveal how the recent hikes have affected the budget allocation just yet. This will be revealed by the provincial commissioner at the end of the month," he said.

Jayce Govender, spokesperson for the Nokia Search and Rescue service, said the fuel hike would definitely affect services and would mean less flying hours for the helicopter that forms part of the service.

The service recently suffered another setback when Nokia announced they would only be partial sponsors of a service which has an operational cost of R4-million.

The sponsorship now stands at R1-million. "As it stands, a single rescue, by the Nokia search team alone costs in the region of R60 000-R70 000 locally. The increase in the fuel price would easily add another R10 000 to that total," he said.

"And the cost of a total rescue, which includes the NSRI and the SAPS Search and Rescue team, is in the region of R200 000 if all teams are called out."

Govender said that teams usually needed back-up in emergencies and that all rescue services would be greatly impacted. "Rescues are going to cost a whole lot more."

Director of the Emergency Medical Rescue Services in KwaZulu-Natal Kholekile Ntsobi said they had a mandate to provide services and although the fuel price would have a negative impact, it would not affect service delivery.

"We had budgeted for a possible fuel increase, so now we need to look at control measures to minimise expenses," he said.

"We need to look at cost effective measures and try to double up on cases. But rest assured, there will be no decline in any of our services."

Source: www.iol.co.za