Cape Town – The Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS) has opened a new base in Noordhoek to reduce the response times to fires further south in the Cape Peninsula.
The base is mostly community-funded and staffed by people who are committed to the safety of the greater community, said VWS chairperson Jon-Jon Emary.
“The VWS is entirely donor- supported, and the volunteers from the South Peninsula base are from the ‘valley’.
“We have on many occasions actively fought fires that have threatened lives and property. This is a committed team that is highly trained and ready to protect the community when called upon to do so.”
South Peninsula Base Station Commander Grant Richardson said it was most heartening to see the response and appreciation from communities affected by fires. “It can be really emotional,” he said.
Meanwhile, environmentalists have expressed concern about the immediate and future damage to the natural ecology and habitat destruction brought by recent fires in areas along the Garden Route, and by the 2017 Knysna fires.
More than 90 000 hectares of the Outeniqua Mountains were destroyed, and 22 000ha razed in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay last year.
Southern Cape Landowners Initiative member Cobus Meiring said the degradation of soil, damage to indigenous vegetation and landscapes when repeatedly exposed to fire might be dire and could lead to species loss and permanent damage to river systems.
With the Knysna fires, the blaze raced through the coast and coastal plateau, agricultural land, as well as urban and semi-urban landscapes.
The Outeniqua fires largely remained on the southern and northern sides of the Outeniqua Mountains, extending down to the foothills and lower lands in places. In both instances, vast plantations were destroyed, along with infrastructure, fencing and grazing land.
“Funding invested through the Department of Environmental Affairs, as well as private landowners and regional and local governments after the 2017 fires ran into millions of rand, and much of the same could be expected to be required in dealing with the aftermath of the Outeniqua fires.
“Environmental damage related to the Outeniqua fires, as well as the rehabilitation thereof, may take a long time to fully assess,” Meiring said, adding that the biggest environmental risk remained critical water catchments being overrun by invasive alien plants.