19 fires fought across KZN amid dry, windy weekend conditions

As dry, windy winter conditions take hold, firefighters tackled no fewer than 19 blazes across KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend.

A total of 269 Working on Fire (WoF) Kishugu Joint Venture wildland firefighters were despatched, as were one spotter plane, one Huey and two pilots from various WoF-Kishugu teams across the Zululand region and the province.

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These included teams from Nkandla, Ulundi and eShowe.

A total of 41 teams remain on high alert as the Fire Danger Index is still extremely high and dangerous.

Community members are urged to be vigilant and report any signs of unattended fires to their local authority.

Since the beginning of the year, WoF-Kishugu has attended 51 fires, with 9.04 hours flown and 63 water drops for fires that have burnt 1 996 hectares.

“We are on standby to assist landowners and partners as SAWS [SA Weather Service] has forecast a high Fire Danger Index for the next three days in KZN,” said Stephen Boyes, WoF GM, on Monday.

“No fires are to be started at all and we encourage working together with neighbouring landowners to ensure we all remain safe this winter fire season.”

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