Durban - Working on Fire (WOF) teams in KwaZulu-Natal attended to 64 fires in July which burned 12 689.60.7 hectors and 15.41 hours were flown during aerial suppression, across the province with partners based at nature reserves, local municipalities, forestry plantations, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Fire Protection Association landowners.
Since the start of the winter season, the Department Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries Programme, Working on Fire teams in KwaZulu-Natal have seen a peak in fires.
“We received 22 more fires in the month of June compared to June. In some regions, a team had to split up into two groups to attend to multiple fire call-outs in one day. We also had more than one team working around the clock to suppress the Msunduzi Landfill fire which went on for 8 days,” said Sifiso Keswa, KZN WOF general manager.
He said other teams still continued conducting fire breaks, block burns, and slashing where possible in aim to reduce the risk of fires spreading to farmers, community homes and plantations.
“On a more positive side, compared to June 2019: 122 fires, we are happy with the decrease of unwanted fires. Although our fire awareness initiatives were cut short due to the pandemic, as a programme we are using digital communications on social media and radio stations as a means to reach community members about the dangers of fires,” said Keswa.
He said the province was on high alert with over 700 firefighters based at 30 bases are on standby during the week and over the weekend when necessary to ensure their availability during this winter fire season in order to assist in combating unwanted fires.
Daily News