ZULULAND fire fighters are staying on red alert as dry weather conditions continue to pose dangerous runaway fire threats in the region.
Although the number of fires attended to by the Zululand Fire Protection Association (ZFPA) have been slightly down, the association’s Fire Protection Officer, Tony Roberts, reports that there have been more catastrophic fires this year compared to previous years.
Catastrophic fires are defined as those larger than 15ha.
There have been eight red code days, which is more than last year and the aircraft bombers have attended to 23 fires.
In July the planes, contracted by the ZFPA from Orsmond Air, were airborne for 3.2 hours, in August for 22 hours and in September they fought fires for 40 hours.
Although winds play a large role in pushing up the Fire Danger Index (FDI), there have not been many windy days.
This year the FDI has been influenced by the lack of humidity and high temperatures.
While the dams in the region have remained relatively full, this does not mean that there has been much rain.
Late rains in July have helped with the FDI for the first month, but the low rainfall since then, coupled with a low number of rainfall events, have caused the vegetation to remain dry and flammable.
Not over yet
Roberts says the fire season is far from over and the public must be aware of the dangers of lighting fires in the open.
He says it is significant that many of the fires have occurred along the N2 highway.
This could be due to cigarettes or matches being thrown out of vehicles, fires next to the road to keep warm on cool mornings or evenings, or exhaust brakes of heavy vehicles ejecting carbon out of the braking system when the brakes are applied.
Some of the bigger fires this season have occurred south of the Dokodweni toll plaza, the Phinda Game Reserve in the north, where a large tract of grazing land was destroyed. as well as plantation areas north of Mtubatuba.
Roberts says despite warnings and an extensive education programme, it is amazing that humans are still the main cause of fires.
This is either through negligence or acts of arson.
He says everyone needs to take responsibility in preventing fires.
The bombers have been contracted to stay on full alert until the end of this month.
