Fires worse this winter season
JOBURG – Gauteng Environmental Department has warned the public about the dangers of winter fires.
Department of Environmental Affairs’ Working on Fire programme in Gauteng Province has recorded 72 fire calls out in May alone.
The recent fire statistics envisage worse for the 2015 winter fire season.
‘‘As the fire season is knocking on the door, already landowners are experiencing numerous veld fires in the province,’’ this is according to Working on Fire’s community fire awareness officer in Gauteng Province Lerato Mokwena.
Mokwena advised the land owners through fire education that they need to create fire belts, and be capacitated to be able to prevent and suppress veld and forest fires.
She explained that every year people lose properties due to unmanaged and disastrous veld fires, especially during the winter fire season.
”The 2014 fire season was a difficult season in Gauteng Province with over 450 fires recorded. An estimated 48 654 hectares of grass and grazing land were burned down.
”Our fire awareness and education campaign has been intensified for 2015 by doing door-to-door and public outreach campaigns in areas that are at risk of veld fires. We educate community about dangers of veld and fires,” said Mokwena.
Working on Fire programme’s general manager in Gauteng Province Stephen Boyes said that Working On Fire has 18 teams of dedicated veld and forest firefighters spread across the province busy with integrated fire management projects.
The general manager said that firefighters also conduct other fire prevention initiatives such as fuel load reduction, prescribed burning and
mandatory fire safety campaigns before the start of the winter fire season.
Boyes added that without fire breaks and access roads, the task of the fire fighters is unnecessary complicated and critical time is lost while attempting to get to the burning areas.
According to Boyes, all landowners are required under the provisions of the National Veld and Forest Fire Act to prepare firebreaks in order to prevent the spread of wild fires. Firebreaks enable the firefighters to effectively manage veld fires resulting in minimum fire spread and minimising the resultant damage.
He emphasised that safety of his firefighters is the number one concern for the 2015 fire season.
“Unmanaged fires are a high risk to human life and cause severe damage to our fauna and flora,” Boyes warned.
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