Reflections on fire and rain
Reflections on fire and rain: What the emergency may have taught us. By Mike Kantey
Exactly one month to the day. Wednesday June 7, I sit down to try and ponder on what happened: how the entire country came together in response, and what residual goodwill and challenges have been left behind for us to consider, together.
At a material level, I stood on Thursday morning June 8 and watched the fire approaching at gusts of over 120km an hour, screaming to a height of over five metres, having raced through the back of the airport, flattening Plettenberg Park luxury hotel along the way.
Tongues of fire had already seeped into the fringes of Whale Rock and Solar Beach, searing the marshes, and reaching as far as Gris Nez Avenue.
And then, equally suddenly. the heavens opened up at around 1 lam and dumped tons of water on the fire.
Heaven knows what would have happened if the flames had continued, unchecked.
After a few more scares into the weekend, and an extraordinary effort on the part of combined forces headed up by so many well-known organisations and – most importantly -the paid and unpaid heroes and heroines of Bitou’s Fire and Emergency Services, the blazes were mastered, and the ashes dispersed to the winds.
By this time, an equally formidable team of volunteers had emerged to begin the arduous task of collecting and distributing emergency supplies. Plett People’s Purse sprang up. and offers of hard cash from all over the country started pouring in. even before Bitou Municipality was able to offer its own resources in aid.
Out of all this extraordinary and vital effort, a number of thoughts arose in my mind:
• How glorious it was to see race, class, religion, and personal differences disappear in a time of severe crisis, as everyone joined forces in common effort and goodwill:
How important it would be to take compassionate advantage of the remaining goodwill and massive offers of charity to build a long-term and sustainable network of support for the needy and disadvantaged folk, no matter their origins;
• Most significant of all: how to pull the emerging leadership into one room, without fear or favour, and work towards what I am now calling a 2020 Vision for Bitou in consort with Knys-na. Sedgefield. and the Wilderness. under the overall banner of our new Garden Route Biosphere Reserve initiative.
This is how drones will support future fire disaster management
In the midst of the worst wildfire to strike South Africa’s southern Cape coast in over 150 years, drones slowly started coming into play as a local firefighting and disaster management tool.
Firefighters issued a call for drones equipped with heat mapping capabilities, which would allow them to identify hot spots at the greatest risk of flare-ups-a task virtually impossible for ground crews working in blinding smoke and dense undergrowth.
Drones were also harnessed by civilians who filmed the devastation in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. allowing homeowners around the country and the rest of the world to witness the destruction and confirm whether their own properties were damaged or not.
In years to come, we can expect to see unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVi) or drones taking on an increasingly important role in firefighting and disaster management, says specialist drone firm Airborne Drones South Africa.
Airborne Drones SA Foreign Government Relations manager JJ Rebello says drones will not only improve the effectiveness of firefighting efforts: they will also reduce the risk to human life during firefighting operations and stand to limit damage to assets by enabling firefighters to work proactively, rather than reactively.
“Commercial drones can withstand temperature extremes from below 5 degrees Centigrade, up to 50 degrees Centigrade, and they can be flown to an altitude of 4.500 metres, making it possible for firefighters to deploy drones over areas w here fires are active.
“With the use of advanced thermal imaging cameras transmitting data to command centres, they can identify people or animals, even where visibility is limited by darkness, smoke or vegetation, so allowing emergency teams to pinpoint exactly where assistance is needed.
“Thermal imaging cameras also support proactive firefighting measures, by mapping hots pots where flare-ups could occur.” Rebello says.
He notes that in the security industry, it is estimated that a drone can take the place of 12 foot soldiers.
“The same might apply in disaster management.” he says. “Sending in technology reduces risk to human life and allows resources to be deployed only where assistance is needed.”
Drones equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) technology support the three-dimensional modelling of forest structures and surface topography, which allows for the development of fire behaviour models, fuel maps and prescribed burn plans.
Drones are already being harnessed internationally to monitor and improve planned burns and provide real-time maps of fire progress.
For insurance purposes, drones also offer access to structures that are cut off from road traffic or too high to allow easy access, so supporting claims investigations and processing after disasters.
Drone mapping allows insurance firms to rapidly document the scene without intruding on clean-up operations or exposing investigators to potentially hazardous materials, as well as providing data on risk factors associated with the damage.
“Drone technology is proving increasingly important in supporting pre-emptive approaches to fire and natural disaster risk management, as well as for disaster relief support,” says Rebello.
Visit www.airbornedrones.com for more information.
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