Firefighters who responded to last weekend's blaze at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg, say they could have acted more swiftly had the fire hydrant system been fully operational. The fire has again put the spotlight on poor health and safety controls and non-compliance in government buildings. In 2018, three firefighters were killed in an inferno at the Bank of Lisbon building in the Jo'burg CBD. Then the safety compliance rate stood at a dismal 21 percent.