WoF heroes home after fighting fires in Indonesia

MBOMBELA – The first group of local Working on Fire (WoF) firefighters, who were deployed to assist with devastating infernos in Indonesia, returned home on Thursday.

They were deployed to fight fires in south Sumatra which have been raging across three provinces for months. WoF firefighters from South Africa and Australia were deployed to Indonesia in early November, to assist with these blazes, some of which had been raging for over six weeks at that time.

Asia Pulp &Paper (APP) called for WoF to assist their pulpwood suppliers’ firefighting and management teams due to extraordinary El Niño climatic conditions.

“Once these fires had been brought under control, our teams worked on other fires in the same region.

“We are delighted to have welcomed the first batch of our colleagues home, while the rest will return to South Africa this week,” said Mr Leon Conradie, managing director of WoF Asia Pacific.

The firefighters who are still in Indonesia will receive a courtesy visit from the South African ambassador to that country,

Mr Pakamisa Augustine Sifuba, later this week. Ms Aida Greenbury, managing director of sustainability at APP, described the WoF deployment as a textbook example of the effectiveness of partnerships.

“During their four weeks in Indonesia, the WoF teams developed a successful technique to deal specifically with fires which had penetrated the peatlands in Indonesia.

The combined efforts and success of the APP, its pulpwood suppliers and the WoF team have lain the groundwork for future fire prevention in that country.”