Lisa Isaacs
TODAY is International Firefighters’ Day, and while experts say the past fire season has been one of the worst ever to hit the province, local firefighters’ efforts were recognised as the city celebrated the day at the weekend.
The event was marked on Saturday by a cavalcade from the Roeland Street Fire Station through the city to the Zandvlei recreational area in Muizenberg. There, a short remembrance ceremony was held for the four fallen firefighters from the past season – Nazeem Davies, Hendrik Marais, Darrell Rea and Jastun Visagie.
Firefighting drills, along with vehicles and equipment, were showcased at the Muizenberg event.
Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Theo Layne said there had been 9079 vegetation fires from last year November until this month.
Linton Rensburg, of Working on Fire (WoF), said while the provincial summer fire season normally ran from December until the end of March, this past season started earlier in November and ended at end of last month.
“This has been by far the worst fire season during the past few years. To date, we had to respond to more than 300 veld and forest fires, which damaged more than 300 000 hectares of veld and fynbos.”
For the same period last year, there were 240 fires damaging about 240 000 hectares of veld and fynbos.
“There were factors such as dry conditions, little or no rain in March and April, hot and windy conditions in March and April, and very dry veld and fynbos that all contributed towards this difficult fire season,” Rensburg added.
About 900 WoF firefighters were dispatched to fire scenes along with 26 aircraft, 12 helicopters, eight fixed-wing water bombers and six spotter planes.
Cape Winelands Fire Department station commander Jaco Thuynsma said: “It is one of the worst seasons we have had.
“We have had an abnormal year. We had a huge number of extensive fires.”
Thuynsma added that firefighters did their jobs without much recognition.
“We have also lost people during this season. These firefighters leave their homes in the morning, with the intention of returning, and some do not. The efforts from all firefighters should absolutely be applauded.
“The effort and dedication these people put in, it is then when you see people that have empathy, with the vision and drive to make a difference.”
Regional WoF manager Buyiselwa Ngqwani, from Khayelitsha, said the fire season was the worst she had seen in her seven-year career, with multiple fires lasting several days and resulting in many hundreds of thousands of rand in damages.
The mother of one, the family’s breadwinner, said the season had hit so hard, stretching resources, that she had to be on the front line a few times to assist at the scene.
“When people and children come to you and say ‘thank you, you are my hero’ – especially in this past season, the way people have come and donated money – it makes it worth it.
“It makes us happy that we can make a difference in people’s lives,” Ngqwani said.