Cape Town-141201-Working on Fire demonstrate their fire fighting equipment at the Stellenbosch air field. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams Cape Town-141201-Working on Fire demonstrate their fire fighting equipment at the Stellenbosch air field. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams
Lisa Isaacs
FIREFIGHTERS can expect a busy period this summer, Local Government MEC Anton Bredell said at the provincial launch of the summer fire season in Stellenbosch yesterday.
“It is safe to say that indications are that a rough fire season may be facing the Western Cape. During the upcoming fire season our strategy is to respond to a fire with the maximum amount of aircraft and ground teams in its early stages,” Bredell said.
“Even though the summer fire season starts on December 1 (yesterday), the Western Cape has already experienced many multiday fires since September. Only a week or so ago firefighters spent four days and nights combating fires in the mountains around Fish Hoek and Glencairn.”
Bredell said an additional three water bomber aircraft, with larger water-holding capacity than the previous aircraft, would be deployed this year, bringing the total to 26 firefighting aircraft on standby for the season.
They are based in Tulbagh, Porterville, Donkerhoek, Stellenbosch, Bredasdorp, Stilbaai, Newlands, Plettenberg Bay and Knysna.
Bredell said the “First Hour Saves Lives” initiative, launched by the provincial Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue services, aimed to stop the spread of fires. “It incorporates the aircraft to rapidly respond to veld fires in order to prevent further loss of life, infrastructure, property and the environment. By gaining control within the first hour of the fire, the possibility of a major incident is minimised.”
There were 820 firefighters in the province and 5 000 from across the country on standby, said Linton Rensburg, national communications manager for the government programme Working on Fire, focusing on integrated fire management.
“We do expect a busy firefighting season, but we are confident that we are ready. We’ve asked communities to be vigilant and careful, especially those living on the urban edge or those in areas surrounded by veld,” he said.
Rensburg said this year the group had focused on increasing fire awareness, strengthening partnerships between firefighting organisations, and the partnership between ground and aerial teams.
“Although the Western Cape doesn’t experience a winter fire season, in the rest of the eight provinces they’ve experienced their worst fire season in seven years. There were about 2 700 fires since May this year till the end of October – 1 million hectares burnt,” he said.
Chief director of national natural resource management Christo Marais said: “The threat of wildfires is real. Driven by 70km south-easterly winds it frequently crosses the urban edge into our informal settlements from the fire-prone fynbos vegetation, often invaded by alien plants which increase the fuel loads and therefore the fire risk. Very often, veld fires can be incredibly unpredictable.”
lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za