Firefighters prepared for the summer season
Port Alfred recruits were among 160 Working on Fire (Wof) participants from 14 bases who underwent a Yellow Card Training Camp in Witelsbos, Tsitsikamma, earlier this month.
The main objective of the camp was aimed at refreshing participants with firefighting skills and to test their physical and mental fitness in preparation for the upcoming summer fire season.
The firefighters will be deployed across the province.
Wof, initiated by the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment, is a government-funded, jobcreation programme focusing on integrated fire management in SA.
Wof Eastern Cape GM, Phumza Dyantyi, said the Yellow Card Training Camp was also aimed at making sure firefighters obtained yellow cards that qualified them to be deployed for fire suppression during the summer fire season.
“Together with our various stakeholders and partners, we aim to reduce the risk of wildfires throughout the province,” Dyantyi said.
The Eastern Cape has two fire seasons.
The winter fire season started in June and ends in October, in the eastern part of the province.
The summer fire season for the western part of the province runs from December to April.
In Ndlambe, a ban on burning or open fires is usually placed from November 1 until January 31 and in the Makana Municipality area from July 1 until October 31.
“Practising the water delivery procedures is part of our Yellow Card training, and it is important because during the firefighting operations, as firefighters we often make use of the water from the fire truck to douse nearby flames,” said Sibongise Ndumdum, one of the Wof crew leaders in the Eastern Cape.
“Under the vehicle driver or crew leader’s supervision, we normally extend the hose to the fireline and use hand signals, relayed back to the pump operator via the line, to regulate the water flow,” he said.
All the participating firefighters worked very hard to obtain their Yellow Cards after completing their assessments, which included a 2.4km run, push-ups, situps and pull-ups, as well as running safely through a firewall.
In most cases, firefighters face very hot weather while fighting fires and need to be both mentally and physically fit to survive such harsh conditions.