Local fire fighters prepare for fire season

The Working on Fire team’s programme in Magaliesburg recently kicked off with a 20 kilometre route march in preparation for the upcoming fire season yellow-card assessment.

According to crew member Suzan Moruntshi, the purpose of the route march was to test the fitness of the fire fighters in the Magaliesburg team.

“It was a tough exercise but it was worth doing because we are conserving and caring for our environment, especially here in Magaliesburg,” says Suzan.

“When you fight veld and forest fires you need to be physically fit because we sometimes walk long distances to where fires are ravaging vegetation,” she explains.

“Part of our exercise was to carry and walk with all the fire equipment. We carry knapsacks of 20 litres of water, rake hoes, sleeping bags, bottled water and the fire beaters. These are the pieces of equipment we use during the fire season.” She says that in the past they have had fires that lasted more than three days.

“We had to be there and fight the fires until they were extinguished. Therefore part of the route march was to test our characters for such calls. On the way the women and men exchanged knapsacks because they are quite heavy, especially when climbing hills.

“We sang to lift our spirits and to keep the team going. We work as a team because it is the key to our success. The route march lasted for four and half hours,” she quips.

Sipho Ntuli, a crew leader, says that the area is affected by veld fires every year, therefore it is important that they prepare for any eventualities in this year’s fire season.

“We are 21 crew members. We enjoy fighting fires in the bush,” says Sipho.

“This serves as a morale boaster among the crew members too.”

*Information given by Parapara Makgahlela.