WOF ready for fire season
There are currently more than 5 000 beneficiaries in the programme, 85% are youths and 29% are women.
MBOMBELA – Working on Fire (WoF) a government-funded, job-creation programme that focuses on integrated fire management in South Africa recently recruited veld and forest firefighters to top up their teams.
More than 1 000 unemployed people from different areas attended the recruitment programme held at Mbombela Stadium in Mbombela, although the target was people from Mataffin area just outside the city. This resulted in many complaining about the procedure.
In response, Mr Simangaliso Mabaso, the Lowveld regional manager of WoF explained that WoF firefighters are recruited from marginalised communities to be trained about fire awareness and education, prevention of fires and fire suppression skills, even though the advertisement of the day was meant for Mattafin.
“But because people came out in numbers we will recruit them and place them in different bases,” he said.
Recruitment will still continue on mentioned dates in other areas of the province.
Mabaso said they were also not interested in qualifications and mainly focused on an individual’s physical fitness.
Recruitment processes include a 2,4km run in which male recruits are expected to reach the finishing line within 10 minutes and female recruits within 12 minutes.
Recruits are also expected to finish a number of push-ups and sit-ups in within a given time.
“These young men and women form veld- and forest firefighting ground crews are stationed at bases around the province to extinguish unwanted wildfires, the aim is also to create job opportunities and save life to our environment,” said Mr Bongani Mashiane, the central regional manager of WoF.
WoF is mandated to implement integrated fire management, which includes supporting the development of the Fire Protection Association (FPA) structure under the National Veld and Forest Fire Act of 1998.
There are also various other positions available within the programme that are often filled by beneficiaries who have progressed from firefighter level.
These include debtors and creditors clerks, general office administration, stock control, firefighter trainers, instructors, and media and community liaison officers.
Some beneficiaries also have the opportunity to do more training in computer skills, driver training and structural firefighting, which present further job qualifications and openings.
This multimillion rand job-creation programme is primarily geared towards assisting government to fulfil its job creation and social upliftment promise to the people of South Africa.
The multi-partner Working on Fire Programme is implemented by the FFA Group of Companies, a leading supplier of Integrated Fire Management Services (IFMS) in South Africa.
There are currently more than 5 000 beneficiaries in the programme, 85% are youths and 29% are women (the highest level in any comparable fire service in the world).
On average, some 54% of the government funds are spent on wages with an additional 24% spent on indirect employee costs such as training, personal protective equipment (PPE) and transport.
This is the highest level of beneficiary benefits in the EPWP Programmes in a recent impact study beneficiaries have reported significant changes in their lives and their families’ living standards.
