Women at front line of fighting fire
Out of the smoke and embers of this week’s Table Mountain wildfire walked a new band of heroes.
SA’s first and only all-female firefighting crew, the Juliet crew, won Capetonians’ hearts with their commitment to fighting an inferno on the slopes of Devil’s Peak.
“We have been overwhelmed with love from Cape Town,” said Juliet’s superintendent, Kylie Paul.
Philip Prins, the fire manager for the Table Mountain National Park, said the Newlands forest command centre deployed crews from NCC Environmental Services, which trained and employ the volunteer Juliet crew, and government-funded Working on Fire teams.
On Sunday, the “Juliet phones” of the 10member crew began to ring, said Paul. The crew has no permanent base, unlike male crews. Paul said: “We are being temporarily hosted by Vergelegen wine estate and serve anywhere in the Western Cape.” For now their green-and-yellow vehicle, nicknamed Ikhaya, operates as a makeshift base. “Sometimes I get mistaken for an ambulance driver because of its colour,” said Paul.
Last summer Juliet firefighters were first dispatched as a mop-up crew, tramping in the footsteps of male crews who had put out flames at the fire’s edge. The women had heat-resistant jumpsuits and boots made for them this year, but these were too big and had to be sent back to be adjusted.
“Now we are in our second fire season and more experienced. We have really proved ourselves.”
During the February six-day fire in the winelands of the Jonkershoek mountains, the women were called out ahead of the men. With support from an air force helicopter, they “held the line”, said Paul.
As their neighbours went to church on Sunday, the Juliet crew arrived at the Claremont bus station, coming from Khayelitsha, Bonteheuwel, Somerset West and Mfuleni.
At noon they began a 24-hour shift as the
fire, which started at about 8.45am near the University of Cape Town, gained ferocity. It burnt down the Rhodes Memorial restaurant, UCT’s Jagger reading room with its irreplaceable African Studies collection, and the 1796 Mostert’s Mill across the highway.
Senior squad leader Thozama “Breezo” Matabata, 37, from Khayelitsha, said the thick smoke and high wind speed made fighting the fire challenging.
“The best part of being part of a female firefighting crew is that we can make things happen without manpower amongst us. It feels different to be in the atmosphere of only women who are doing such a job,” she said.
“It is not an easy job. It is a risky job [but] we don’t need male support when we work on a long line alone as an only-female crew.
“It was not one of my dreams to be a firefighter but it happened since I was trying to get a job or a new experience.”
For many, a runaway fire can be terrifying, but not for Matabata.
“We are saving lives, saving properties, saving animals, saving nature, and so it has become a more interesting job for me,” she said.