Cape Town fire report reveals National Assembly valve has not been serviced since 2017

The City of Cape Town has released various reports on the fire that engulfed the National Assembly and Old Assembly Buildings.

The fire broke out in the Old Assembly Building on Sunday and reignited on Monday.

The fire has since been contained:

Fire Station Commander JJ Williams says it is not an official fire report but has been released for information purposes.

Williams says it provides the observations of City fire safety officers who worked on the scene.

The Station Commander says when he walked around the affected areas he found that the National Assembly sprinkler valve was not serviced.

This he says was last serviced in 2017 while it has to be done every three years.

He says if it was properly serviced the valve should have been locked with a chain in an open position and a block plan would have been available showing system layout.

According to the report lifts continued to operate despite a “break glass” unit at one lift being activated. It says fire doors were locked in an open position using latches And roof smoke vents did activate at the National Assembly.