On Friday, the Working on Fire team stationed in Parys, received a larger fully-equipped 4 x 4 firefighting vehicle from Working on Fire.
In recent years, the team has done invaluable work, not only fighting veld fires in the Parys, Vredefort, Koppies and Sasolburg districts and serving members of the fire association, but also preparing pre-fires critical to preventing fires.
They also assist with veld fires within the Ngwathe municipal area.
The team made around 100 kilometres of pre-fires for the previous fire season.
Between 1 January and 31 December 2022, they were called out to 24 veld fires, where 1,875 hectares burned.
Their area of responsibility covers 175,000 hectares.
Although the team is not trained for structural fires nor has the equipment to do so, they are fully trained specifically for fighting veld fires.
The team comprises 25 members (inclu- ding the most recent recruits after com- pleting their training). The team leader is Telane (Samson) Moroke.

Working on Fire will now use the team’s previous vehicle in the Heilbron district to assist with veld fires.