Teaching communities to be fire safe.
The Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA) Working on Fire (WoF) programme officially launched a provincial fire awareness campaign on Friday 27 October at the Hornlee community hall in Knysna.
Although the summer fire season officially starts on 1 December, the Western Cape has already experienced many multiday fires since September.
This year, WoF had the largest deployment of firefighting resources sent to Knysna to combat the fires that swept across the Garden Route in June, which again highlights the need for those authorities charged with responding to fires to coordinate and plan well ahead of the start of the fire season.
The event was arranged by WoF to launch the Western Cape fire awareness campaign, together with the provincial disaster management and fire brigade services in Knysna, the Knysna municipality, Stellenbosch disaster management, community development workers and the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association (SCFPA).
100 000 people targeted
The campaign is aimed at teaching communities how to be “fire safe”, how to prevent unwanted veld and forest fires, to raise awareness of the risk of veld and forest fires, and to empower those at risk to take responsibility, to reduce the risk and impact of fires in their communities.
“The value of fire awareness and fire-safe preparation around dwellings cannot be overemphasised.
“For this campaign launch, we focus on fire awareness initiatives in schools and communities which have reached more than 2 million people over the past five years.
“We have also conducted 27 similar initiatives (13 in communities and 14 at schools) in the Knysna area over the past two years, reaching 2 664 people,” said WoF managing director Trevor Abrahams.
A crew from Working on Fire in the Hornlee community hall on Friday 27 October. Photos: Supplied
Over the next few weeks leading up to the start of the fire season, WoF firefighters together with various partners and stakeholders, will conduct fire awareness activities at various schools as well as embark on door-to-door campaigns in the Cape Peninsula and Winelands, West Coast and Overberg regions, and the Garden Route community in the Southern Cape, targeting close to 100 000 learners, educators and community members.
“Our firefighters will demonstrate how to construct fire breaks and do fuel reduction, which helps to eliminate ‘fire spread’ in case of a fire,” said Abrahams.
“Teams across the province will be actively clearing and constructing fire belts, conducting prescribed burns, and clearing fuel loads to mitigate the risk in areas that are fire prone.”
Community safety tips
WoF urges communities to be more vigilant during this fire season and not to start unnecessary fires, particularly during dry days.
People are also asked to remove unnecessary rubble on their properties which can pose a serious fire risk, and houses next to grasslands need to ensure that there are sufficient fire breaks between their properties and these grasslands.
People are also urged to cut down overhanging tree branches close to their properties and to clean their gutters, as these also pose a fire risk.
People must ensure they have the contact details of their local fire authorities at hand should there be a fire emergency.
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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News