Have you ever thought of serving your own community as a volunteer fire-fighter? Well here at last is your opportunity. There is a move afoot to create a group of highly trained Volunteer fire-fighters that will be dedicated to protecting the Far South Peninsula from runaway wildfires. This much-needed initiative will be coupled with a move to strengthen community groups who wish to have some localized capability of defending their own homes against fire, by supplying basic training, technical advice and a liaison structure.

To get the ball rolling and explain what is proposed, there will be a meeting on Wednesday the 17^th March at 7 pm in Glencairn at the Phoenix Hall (opposite the Total garage). Anyone resident in the South Peninsula is most welcome to attend to hear what is being planned and if you would like to think about enlisting in one of the programmes, please do not be shy, even if you are not young and fit – not everyone is needed on the fire line itself. A lot of backup people are also required for driving vehicles, communications, record keeping, equipment maintenance, catering, admin fundraising and other support tasks.

A LOCAL COMMUNITY MEMBER TAKES INSTRUCTION FROM THE VWS

Photo Rob Tarr

THE BACKGROUND

The South Peninsula is a very high risk area for runaway wildfires and has seen devastating outbreaks in the recent past that have destroyed homes, killed off wildlife and left huge tracts of land blackened and vulnerable to erosion. Many areas are currently overgrown with highly inflammable alien vegetation, just waiting for one spark to set it all ablaze.

VWS LADIES IN ACTION                                                    Photo by  Rob Tarr

THE VOLUNTEER WILDFIRE SERVICES

The initiative to create a dedicated South Peninsula group of volunteer fire fighters is being made through the good offices of the VWS (Volunteer Wildfire Service), with the active support of existing local community fire-fighting units (CFUs) from Glencairn, Simonstown, Froggy Farm and Scarborough. The VWS is a highly professional fire fighting unit that for ten years has taken a leading role in fighting bush fires all over the Cape Peninsula and parts of the Boland. They operate from the Fire Base at Newlands and have recently set up a second station at Jonkershoek and intend to do the same in the South Peninsula - if enough volunteers can be enlisted to make it viable.

VWS operate a very professionally run training scheme, which requires several sessions per month, over the low fire risk winter months. The aim is to make the volunteer an effective fire-fighter, whose training and experience makes him/her safe to be on a fire line. The training is intensive and would provide the individual with a great opportunity for personal growth and confidence building, through handling tasks by teamwork and personal initiative. Besides the fire training, VWS volunteers are exposed to many useful new skills such as first aid, map reading and the use of GPS, radio operating, rope-work or chain saw operation.

 GLENCAIRN:  COMMUNITY TRAINING IN THE USE OF FIRE PUMPS

                                                                                Photo by Rob Tarr           

COMMUNITY FIRE PROTECTION

At the local level, the aim is to promote home protection through community fire fighting teams (CFUs) that will be set up and run on a neighbourhood basis by the residents themselves. These CFU groups will be trained to a much less rigorous level than the actual VWS volunteers, but over a couple of weekend sessions will be given the basic skills to enable them to put out a small fire or to at least hold the fort and keep the flames away from the houses themselves, until such time as the fully trained fire teams arrive on the scene to take over.

A further aspect of fire protection is the proposed creation of Fire Wise Communities. This is a structured programme that is promoted by the Working on Fire organisation (Wofire) and involves informing and educating communities in ways to make both their neighbourhoods and their own personal properties less vulnerable to fire danger. A short presentation to show what is entailed in all this, will be given at the meeting on the 17^th by the Working on Fire team.

So please come to hear what this is all about on 17^th March and any questions that you might want to raise will be welcomed. This very worthwhile community effort really needs your support to help reduce the ever-present fire danger in the Far South.

For further information about the meeting contact-   

                  Steve Coe    -    0833470453 and africoe@iafrica.com

                  Ken Findlay -    0825708212 and kenfin@telkomsa.net

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