The scarcity of properly trained firefighters at Cape Town International Airport "poses a risk" and "is serious enough to threaten" the airport's operating licence.
Poorly trained airport firefighters do not know how to use equipment, do not know their assigned duties on the fire engines and lack the experience to drive these.
Another internal airport document has said that two-thirds of the firefighters do not have enough training.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) plans to investigate the training of the airport's firefighters during its next audit.
The airport fire service is privately owned and run by the Airports Company of SA (Acsa).
According to the report by an internal auditor, Aldrich Blignaut, who has since been hired as the fire service's emergency response planner, firefighters "lacked knowledge" of how to operate fire tenders and equipment.
"This poses a risk (because) in real (emergencies) the crew will need to operate at a much quicker pace than during the audit and they will then need to be sure of what they are doing and which type of equipment to use," Blignaut said.
"New recruits are being used as operational staff too soon after their appointment and without the proper training."
"The entire issue of training is serious enough to threaten our operating licence, as the number of unskilled and inexperienced staff far outweighs the skilled and experienced staff available," said Wilson.
In another section of the report, on the handling of hoses, Blignaut said "the lack of ability to roll out hoses on the fire ground" raised questions about the readiness of recruits deployed as operational staff.
Under the heading "Lack of knowledge of equipment on vehicles and location", Blignaut said it was worrying to find out that some firefighters could not "identify and differentiate between a two-stroke and a four-stroke machine".
During the audit, Blignaut also noted that some firefighters did not know their assigned duties on fire engines, such as pulling hoses or switching on pumps, and could not identify the airport's rendezvous points for emergency services.
Wilson said firefighters should have received airport emergency plan training in January, and another four times this year.
On the question of driving vehicles, Blignaut said although firefighters obtained a heavy duty driver's licence through a driving school, this did not "give them enough experience" in operating the vehicles during emergencies.
Wilson said 30 of the 46 firefighter drivers had less than a year's driving experience and many were "in dire need" of training, but they were not allowed to do "unnecessary driving" of fire tenders as this would affect the fuel budget.
The CAA carries out audits at every airport in the country each year. An airport would lose its operating licence if the audit were not carried out or if it failed it.
Last year Cape Town International Airport passed its audit. The next one is scheduled for July.
See also - Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) airport safety shock
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