The Department of Environmental Affairs programme, Working on Fire (WoF) has recruited and trained 124 new firefighters ahead of windy season, who will be based in the
Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Gauteng and Western Cape provinces.
“August is an extremely windy month and this could lead to the outbreak of veld and forest fires. In an attempt to reduce the personal and economic impacts of these, we have extensively trained our new firefighters who will safely be deployed to wildfires,” said Lebogang Maseko, WoF provincial spokesperson.
The newly trained firefighters underwent a 24 Day Basic and Advanced Firefighting training programme that has extensively prepared them as wildfire firefighters. They were also trained in fire awareness and education, prevention and fire suppression skills. In addition, they are also trained in skills such as first aid, carpentry, cooking, health and safety and communications.
Also read:WoF ready for fire season
WoF manages an Integrated Fire Management Programme which includes fire management planning, detection, prevention, suppression, dispatch and coordination and community fire awareness activities.
