The Cape Winelands District Municipality’s (CWDM) Fire Services held the annual post-fire season meeting in Worcester on 18 May 2023.
“This year we saw more ignitions than usual, but due to the combination of high rainfall and rapid attack deployment of resources, we had very few ongoing fires that lasted days and stretched our manpower to their limit.” Stated Jaco Thuynsma, Manager, Fire Services Support during his presentation.
The meeting was attended by representatives from CapeNature, NCC and the Winelands Fire Protection Association, (FPA) who all shared their challenges and highlights of the season. Role players agreed that careless ignition, the impact of climate change, alien vegetation and older mature indigenous veld play a big role in how the season will progress. The maintenance of fire breaks and a planned approach to alien vegetation eradication is vital to the protection of our bio-diversity, infra-structure and ultimately our lives.
The infographic is a summary of the season.
