A solution to the Western Cape veld fires

04 February 2019

Published by https://www.insideeducation.org/


SOUTH AFRICA – The Western Cape veld and informal settlements fires could soon be a thing of the past.

This is according to Science and Technology Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, who told Inside Education on Monday the ZA-Cube-2 technology will help “detect smokes as they start and would give a signal to the emergency services that fire was about to destroy the place”.
The ZA-Cube-2 will be housed at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria, which is one of the entity belonging to her department.
Kubayi-Ngubane said the ZA-Cube-2 would give signal to emergency services before a fire can spread. The emergency services are responsible to put out fires.
“Once the satellite has been synchronised then we will switch it on. We expect to switch it on soon but before winter.  It will pick up the smokes in the veld as it starts as well as in the informal settlements.
“Before we switch on the ZA-Cube-2, we have to do the tests to ensure that the response by the emergency services respond to the right fire not the smokes for “Mbaula”,” she said.
The Western Cape is always raved by veld fire that destroys the land. Recently the was fire at Simon’s town where fire fighters struggled to put out fire for days.
It was also reported that emergency personnel had so far responded to more than 700 vegetation fires since the beginning of the year.
The move will also be a relieve for many families who live at informal settlements as they lose their loved ones and homes during winter due to fire that start while people put out fire to warm themselves.
“These method of sensing fire is the first of its kind in the world,” she said.
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