Working on Fire (WoF), the Department of Environmental Affairs’ programme to help fight veld and forest fires, has been hard at work in the Western District of the Eastern Cape as it prepared its participants for the 2016/17 summer fire season.
Working on Fire (WoF), the Department of Environmental Affairs’ programme to help fight veld and forest fires, has been hard at work in the Western District of the Eastern Cape as it prepared its participants for the 2016/17 summer fire season.
Participants, 112 of them, stationed at eight bases, underwent a Yellow Card Training Camp in order to refresh their fire fighting skills and test their physical and mental fitness in preparation for the coming fire season.
These fire fighters have been deployed across the province to reduce the personal and economic harm caused by unwanted veld and forest fires.
“The Yellow Card Training Camp is a good opportunity for our participants to be refreshed on their fire fighting skills to tackle the coming fire season. Together with our various stakeholders and partners, we aim to reduce the risk of fires throughout the province,” said the Ground Operations manager in the West District, Mxoli Cabela.
Cabela said that the Eastern Cape has two fire seasons, the winter season from May to October for the Eastern District and the summer season for the Western District which starts on 1 December.
All fire fighters worked very hard to obtain their yellow cards as they passed their 2.4km run, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups as well as running safely through the fire wall. In most cases fire fighters face very hot weather while fighting fires so they need to be fit in order to survive such situations.
Londeka Blouw, a female fire fighter from Jansenville who obtained her yellow card, said that she was very happy to get it because it qualified her to be a fire fighter who can fight fires during fire season.
“The tests that we went through during the yellow card training were very tough but through hard work and dedication we succeeded as a team,” she explained.
With the training that they got at the camp all the fire fighters that got their yellow cards are ready for the summer season.
WoF provides fire suppression and prevention services to a whole range of landowners throughout the Eastern Cape, such as Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism, DAFF, PG Bison, Rance Timber and Fire Protection Associations.
Eastern Cape WoF teams have been battling numerous fires across the province since the beginning of October and seven fires have been suppressed already since the start of the month.
Some of the teams that have been hard at work this month include Cedarville, Ongeluksnek, Witelsbos, Molteno, Langeni, Dwesa, Elliot, Ugie and Nqadu.
The most recent fire was in Langeni Forest on 8 October where five of the WoF teams had to work together to suppress it.
It is important to protect the environment and save lives of animals and people.
While other teams are busy suppressing fires around the province others conduct fire awareness workshops in schools and communities with high fire risk to teach community members and learners about fire preventions and fire safety, says WoF.
