’Tis the season for fire breaks
The department of environmental affair’s Working on Fire (WOF) programme is appealing to Gauteng land owners to create fire breaks as the winter fire season is now official open.
According to the National Veld and Forest Act of 1998, the winter fire season starts in June.
The WOF spokesperson in Gauteng, Parapara Makgahlela, said: “Working on Fire has 17 bases with 348 firefighters across Gauteng on standby to assist communities, landowners and farmers to suppress veld fires and to create fire breaks.
“Gauteng recorded 447 fires and 102 546 of hectares of land burned in the last fire season. Working on Fire in the province has vehicle resources in place, one fire truck, five truck buses, five strike units and six bakkies to operate during the fire season.”
Landowners were encouraged to form fire protection associations to manage fire trends in their areas.
“Landowners need to contact us so we can assist with the development of clear integrated fire management services, which includes, among others, prescribed burning, fuel load reduction, community fire awareness, early detection and fire suppression plans,” said Makgahlela.
Communities were urged to be more vigilant during the fire season and not start unnecessary fires, particularly during dry days, Makgahlela added.
People were also asked to remove unnecessary rubble on their properties which could pose a serious fire risk.
People living next to grasslands needed to ensure there were sufficient fire breaks between their properties and the grasslands.
“We expect a very difficult winter fire season but we firmly believe through our partnerships with provincial disaster management centres, fire protection associations, SANParks, various private and public landowners and local municipalities, we will be able to respond quickly in rendering a highly skilled veld fire suppression service which is unparalleled anywhere in the country,” said Makgahlela.
The Working on Fire spokesperson also urged communities to cut down overhanging tree branches close to their properties and to clean their gutters as leaves in gutters posed a fire risk.
People must also ensure that they have the contact details of their local fire authorities at hand should there be a fire emergency. – ANA
Remove unnecessary rubble which can pose a serious fire risk, clean up gutters and cut down overhanging tree branches close to properties.