1000 veld fires over past two months
1000 veld fires over past two months
06 August 2014
published by http://citizen.co.za
South Africa — A total of 4300 firefighters stationed at 180 bases across eight provinces in South Africa, were deployed to just over a 1000 fires (vegetation, plantation and fynbos) in June and July this year, the departments Working on Fire (WoF) programme spokesman Linton Rensburg said in a statement.
The WoF team, which kicked off the years winter fire season on June 1, was able to minimise the loss of lives, infrastructure and biodiversity by limiting the countrys burn areas to 48,000 hectares.
Through our partnerships with Fire Protection Associations (FPAs), SA National Parks, various private and public landowners and local municipalities, we will be able to respond quickly, rendering a highly skilled veldfire suppression service which is unparalleled anywhere in South Africa, said Rensburg.
The WoF programme was made up of about 5000 veld and forest firefighters, stationed at 200 bases across the country, as well as the aerial support teams, made up of spotter planes, helicopters and bomber aircraft.
We have deployed our WoF ground and aerial teams in areas with the highest fire risk, and they can be dispatched within six minutes of receiving a call for help, said Rensburg.
The Western Cape was the only province that the team was not deployed too.
This is because the Western Cape experiences high winter rainfalls, whereas the rest of the country remains dry and is more susceptible for veld and forest fires, said Rensburg.
He said South Africa was the only country, worldwide, that had a full-time and professional veld and forest firefighting service.
The WoF, which was in its eleventh year, would end its fire season at the end of November.
