With winter already here, the Kruger National Park (KNP) is working non-stop to put measures in place to put out wildland fires that can occasionally be sparked by lightning, animal activity, falling rocks in mountainous places, and human errors.
Tercia Strydom, an abiotic scientist with the KNP, said the park uses satellite technology to monitor, track, and anticipate fires.
“Thanks to Sentinel satellites, we have access to the park imagery that can instantly pinpoint the exact position and size of one.
In addition to defining burnt regions and mapping the intensity of burns, satellite photos are used to locate active fires and assess their consequences.
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“Another satellite system, the Modus, which has two satellites orbiting the park twice daily, can detect the generated changes in the visible spot. Fires alter the structure and reflectance of plant as well as the soil qualities within the burnt region. If we want to have a firebreak and need to control it, we check on technology to see which way it would be moving while we map flames using satellite images,” said Strydom.
In addition to the satellite system, she said the park has a management tool at a selected landscape that it uses to suppress fires.
“We frequently argue that the flora, trees and animals are all fire-adapted species, since fires have been a part of this landscape for millions of years and have shaped the habitat that we observe today.
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“The ongoing researches have found that animals liked the great wide grassy regions for a variety of reasons, including the quality of the grazing and safety, therefore fires are an important part of the system. To ensure that a small fire doesn’t grow into a massive one that spreads across and endangers animals, we implement firebreaks that are graded annually,” she said.
“When we have situations where there are untamed fires that might have been ignited by lighting or it has come in from the confines of the park without being initiated by park management, we do have trained and equipped personnel to deal with these fires. We have several highly qualified staff members spread out around the park, and if necessary, we can also call upon assistance from adjacent communities or firefighting services from other parks and game farms around us,” concluded Strydom.
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