Winter fire season warning
JOBURG - The Department of Environmental Affairs' Working on Fire programme has recorded 72 fire callouts in Gauteng in May alone, and the recent statistics don't bode well for this year's winter fire season.
Working on Fire’s community fire awareness officer in Gauteng, Lerato Mokwena said, “As fire season is knocking on the door, already landowners are experiencing numerous veld fires in the province.”
Mokwena said that landowners need education on the necessity of creating firebreaks and how to prevent and suppress veld and forest fires. She explained that every year people lose property due to unmanaged and disastrous veld fires, especially during the winter fire season.
“The 2014 fire season was a difficult season in the Gauteng province with over 450 fires recorded. An estimated 48 654 hectares of grass and grazing land were burnt down. Our fire awareness and education campaign has been intensified this year by doing door-to-door and public outreach campaigns in areas that are at risk of veld fires,” said Mokwena.
The Working on Fire programme general manager in Gauteng, Stephen Boyes said Working On Fire has 18 teams of dedicated veld and forest firefighters spread across the province working on integrated fire management projects.
He said, “Our teams use various tools, including monitoring the Fire Danger Index data to determine when it is safe to burn firebreaks. This minimises the chances of a fire getting out of control.
“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 said without firebreaks and access roads, the task of the firefighters is complicated, and critical time is lost attempting to reach the blaze.
According 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 wildfires. Firebreaks enable firefighters to effectively manage veld fires resulting in minimum fire spread and the resultant damage.
He emphasised that the safety of his firefighters is the number one concern for this year’s fire season.
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