just for a second... im a member of the public, i witness a motor vehicle accident... my first thought "OMG they need an ambulance."
i ring triple 0 and ask for ambulance service, and they turn there guys out... it is then up to the ambulance comm cen to advise sapol and sacfs/samfs of the incident.. very rarely inside urban areas do the fire/rescue authorities get told about mva's until sapol or saas have arrived and deemed a response necessary...
this shouldnt happen but unfortunately it does.
i quite often drive on my way to work or wherever and notice a car smashed up on the side of the road... and think, "wtf??? why didnt we get responded to that." i have even driven past an accident that sapol where in attendance at, in our area.. stopped, identified myself to the officer on scene and asked why fire/rescue hadnt been responded, and he simply stated that they didnt need/want us. i looked at the car and could see liquid leaking from under it, so what did i do? i rang triple 0 asked for fire, and reported the MVA stating there was noone trapped but "something" leaking from under the car. easy fixed, and perfectly fine thing to do.