THE worst fire season in years, the bombers stationed at KwaMbonambi have already flown to 22 fires since their arrival on 1 July.
There is almost one wild fire needing air support per day.
The conditions in the Melmoth/Babanango areas are just as dire and the Fire Protection Associations (FPA) are dealing with fires on a daily basis.
Speaking to the Zululand FPA’s Tony Roberts while co-ordinating a fire fight, he said that the humidity is ‘way low.
‘The public think that there is no danger in cooler weather.’
Roberts said,’There are three climatic conditions making up the Fire Danger Index (FDI). The most problematic conditions this year are humidity, which is around 29 percent, and high winds gusting up to 35km/hr.
‘The third condition, temperature, is not a factor at this stage, although there have been hot days, pushing the FDI into the high orange and touching red on occasion.’
Long term forcasts show that meaningful rain will only arrive in January next year, making for an extremely long and dangerous fire season.
No burning without permission
No burning is allowed within FPA without permission from the Fire Control Officers which are Tony Roberts for the Zululand FPA and Johan le Roux for the Zululand Inland FPA.
At present, Roberts said the burning of forestry trash or cane tops is prohibited until October, due to the danger of the fire flaring up because it is difficult to extinguish properly.
This is supported by Grocane and SAFire insurance companies.
The Zululand, FPA stretches from the uThukela River through to the Mozambique border in the north.
Farmers and landowners who are not registered members of a FPA in their area are going to be forced to join when new legislation is passed in parliament this year.
Unfortnuately, many farmers are benefitting from the FPA’s infrastructure including monitoring and reaction by its members.
This will soon change and farmers need to be aware of the consequences.
Roberts said, ‘They will be charged for negligence if a fire is found due to their non-compliance regarding preparation of fire breaks or having functional fire fighting equipment in place.
He said anybody with a box of matches or cigarette lighter in his pocket needs to take responsibility to prevent fires.
Most fires are started by man, either intentionally or by accident.
Unfortunately, no matter what the cause of the fire, the loss of life and damage to property is the same and needs to be prevented.
