veld fire case study

Veld Fires are a danger for all of us

After every disaster in the Kouga region, there is always a lot of talk and urgent calls for action. In particular, veld fires have the potential to cause huge damage in the area and the need for a Fire Protection Association (FPA) is a necessity.
 Who can forget the fires that burnt down houses in St Francis Bay or the massive fires that raced past Jeffreys Bay on the way to Thornhill a few years ago?

A raging veld fire near Addo: Photo: www.sanparks.org

“The time has now come to take responsibility and ensure we have a functional FPA and not one only in name” says Elza Van Lingen of the DA.   “ A meeting will be held in Humansdorp on 16 September at 10 am and all community associations are urged to attend. It will pay to plan to protect us against disasters”.
Farmers and other land owners as well as residents may join a FPA as part of the co-operation between a municipality and the residents. Together a plan of action can be worked out that will minimize the danger of veld fires and to properly manage controlled burning of fields.
The National Veld and Forest Fire Act 101 of 1998 maked provision for a FPA that can back up the municipal fire department as well as provide input to regulate controlled burning and to mediate on disputes between neighbourshttps://www.linkedin.com/company/fire-protection-association

warning on veld fires

Last week Trans African Concessions [TracN4] alerted road users to the dangers of diminished visibility caused by veld fires next to some parts of the N4. We added these “N4 Alerts” to the Arrive Alive mobile website at arrive alive.mobile and would like to provide our road users with more information on safe driving near veld and forest fires.

As we approach the dry months we can expect an increase in veld and forest fires and fire and emergency services will be on high alert. But how can we as road users exercise greater caution while driving in the high risk areas?

One of the most important aspects is to show respect and awareness of Emergency Operations. We would like to quote from the Arrive Alive road safety website:

“The police, traffic officials and fire fighters do their best to avert the dangers form veld fires and to protect the public and motorists from these dangers. They also control crowds near the emergency scenes and will provide the most convenient detour for traffic when roads are closed. It is important that motorists obey and pay close attention to these officials. The following should be kept in mind:
•Move over when you see flashing lights at the side of the road or the presence of emergency vehicles or fire engines!
•Try to stay at least 200 metres from the emergency vehicle.
•If an emergency exists ahead, it may be dangerous to the public to drive through the area.
•People who drive into an emergency scene may collide with a fire engine, or worse, a firefighter.
•Slow down when approaching an emergency scene
•Be patient and keep in mind that fire and emergency personnel did not create the emergency, they did not cause the accident and they did not start the fire
•Detouring traffic may cause everything to slow down, but it is better getting through slowly instead of getting stuck.”
We would like to urge all road users to view the recommendations and safety advice included on the Arrive Alive website in a section titled: “Veld and Forest Fires”

veldfires and stakeholders

Veld fires and stakeholders
Each person or institution has a role to play in the fight against veld fires and the following can be of importance to prevent veld fires, destruction of the environment as well as loss of life and property.
a.      School Children
In the event that school children come across fire:
·         Quickly report the incident to any nearby adult person.
·         Do not attempt to cross over fire, “crossing over fire may result in fatalities”.
·         Do not try to extinguish a veldt fire on your own
·         move away from the veldt fire and never ever try to climb trees in the direction of a veldt fire
b. Bus passengers
Travelling can at times be done during the odd hours when the weather is very cold especially in the rural areas. These conditions make passengers make a fire at the bus stop for warmth. Therefore, before leaving:
·         Make sure you completely extinguish the fire before leaving
·         Make sure all the glowing splints and burning coal are completely extinguished using water.
·         Put on warm clothes because history has shown that most road fires are left unattended.
c. Bee smokers
·         Use other methods of extracting honey which does not involve use of fire
·         Seekadvice from Forestry Commission.
d. Motorists
·         Put off cigarette stubs and use ashtrays.
·         Assist in fire fighting and always travel with a fire extinguisher.
·         Service  car electrical and mechanical  systems to avoid  sparks which can cause veld fires
e.Traditional leaders 
·         Have fire fighting teams to put off uncontrolled veldt fires in your areas of jurisdiction.
·         Carry out fire awareness campaigns throughout the fire season
·         Use cultural ways of punishing those who causeveld fires.
f. Rural District Councils
  Establish an environmental committee to oversee environmental issues
·         Establish environmental sub –committees which are chaired by a councillor in a given ward or wards.
·          appoint an environmental monitor in the district in conjunction with  EMA
·         Ensure that there are fire fighting committees in these various wards
·         Report all veld fire incidences within 7 working days to EMA or ZRP

How do l know that a fire might occur?
·         It is normally your dry season.
·         You experience very hot conditions.
·         There is a lot of potential fuel (e.g. dry leaves, wood, dead plants and grass).
·         You can clearly see long dry grass and plants.
·         There are moderate to strong winds present.
Veld fire trends

YEAR	HECTARAGE	FATALITY	FIRE INCIDENCES
2009	950 905	10	7 409
2010	1 152 413	25	9 361
2011	713 770	5	6 780
2012	1 320 325	16	1861
2013	1 179 274	4	1981

what farmers need to know

What Farmers/Property owners need to know?
Fire prevention is the best option to minimise risks associated with veld fires. This can be achieved through establishment and maintenance of fireguards. Fireguards are designed to provide access and a safe environment for the fire fighting teams to implement controlled burning and effectively manage wildfires. The existing roads and tracks also provide the foundation to implement fire management activities.
·         Construct standard fireguards which are at least 9m wide on boundaries and internal fire guards which should be at least 4.5m wide.
·         Fireguards can be constructed by ploughing using ox-drawn ploughs or tractors, disking, hoeing.
·         Always inspect your fireguards to make sure that they are free of combustible material.
·          Fireguards are important because they break fire by removing the fuel load from the fire triangle.
·         Ensure that fire fighting equipment is in place, bowzers/knapsack sprayers filled with water during the
fire season.
·         Report all fire incidences to the nearest ZRP or EMA offices within 7 working days.
·         Always listen to the weather personnel on the fire danger index.
·          If only the above stakeholders could take heed of the above advice, EMA hopes and trusts that there will be reduction inthe occurrences of veld fires in the country.Reduction of veld fire management is therefore, everyone’sresponsibility, so play your part.

 

 

veld fires in history

In Zimbabwe, the current fire management can be traced to the arrival of the white settlers (1890-1950). Regulations and legislation put in place to protect natural resources included the Natural Resources Act (No. 9) of 1941 and The Native Land Husbandry Act of 1951 (Stocking 1978). The Natural Resources Board was formed to implement fire prevention policies in the commercial and communal farming areas, and protected forests and nature reserves. At farm level, farmers were responsible for establishing fire guards before the start of the dry season, which coincides with the fire season. In addition, most commercial farms were fenced to restrict human movement, thereby controlling veld fires associated with hunting and honey harvesting.

The current fire protection system in Zimbabwe was developed in the 1960s and is based on early detection, quick reaction and suppression (Mudekwe 2007). The present system was put in place after realizing that it is difficult to prevent veld fires, but strategies that aim at mitigating the negative effects of wild fires were more sustainable. This structure was maintained for 20 years after independence, till the year 2000, when the land reform programme was initiated.

Prior to the land reform programme commercial farmers occupied about 16 million hectares (ha), resettlement farmers 3.6 million ha, small-scale commercial farmers 1.4 million ha and state farms 0.1 million ha. In 2000, the Government initiated a land reform program to acquire 12.4 million ha of the 16 million ha in large-scale agriculture to create two new categories of farming subsectors, namely A1 and A2 farms. A total of 4.1 million ha model A1 farms (average 5 ha), 3.5 million ha model A2 farms (average, 318 ha per farmer) were established under the land reform program. About 16.4 million ha is now communally owned land, and the rest is state land (Scoones et al. 2010). However, of late there has been a massive increase in the incidences of uncontrolled veld fires which have inflicted substantial damage to agricultural land, national parks, indigenous forests, commercial timber plantations, rangelands and communal grazing areas. The recent increase in fire incidences has been attributed to newly resettled smallholder farmers (EMA 2011; Phiri et al. 2011).

Regardless of the enactment of several Acts that aimed at preventing fires such the Environmental Management Act (CAP 20:27) of 2007, The Parks and Wildlife Act (CAP 20:14) of 1996 and Forest Act (CAP 19:05) of 1996 and the Traditional Leaders Act of 1998, veld fires remain a perennial problem. Studies by Scholes & Andreae (2000) and a report by Chenje et al. (1998) suggested that burning is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gases during the dry season in Zimbabwe and in the region. Uncontrolled fires are a threat to the bio-physical, social and economic environment because of their trail of destruction and direct impact on all sectors of the economy. Veld fires have destroyed approximately a million ha annually in Zimbabwe in each of the past 4 years. Besides the loss of biodiversity and economic losses, veld fires also reduce the aesthetic value of the land. Thus, there is need for a thorough understanding of the causes, socio-economic, environmental impacts and management of veld fires. Unfortunately, besides institutional reports (e.g., Judge 1975; WWF 2001; Mudekwe 2007; Nkomo & Sassi 2009; Phiri et al. 2011), there are few scientific studies (e.g., Furley et al. 2008) conducted on fire in Zimbabwe.

impact of veld fires in ziim

Veld fires are a common phenomenon in the predominantly savanna ecosystems of Zimbabwe. Until now no studies have investigated the causes, and socio-economic and environmental impacts of veld fires in Zimbabwe. Yet such information is crucial for planning and implementation of fire prevention and control practices. The present study uses multiple sources of information including review of published literature, reports from regulatory agencies, informal interviews and field observations to address the following objectives; (1) to identify the key causes of veld fires in Zimbabwe, (2) to investigate the socio-economic and environmental impacts of veld fires, (3) to highlight management practices for the control of veld fires and (4) to identify research gaps on causes and management of veld fires in Zimbabwe. This review showed that the main causes of veld fires are anthropogenic. The impacts of fires are multifaceted and are a threat to the bio-physical, social and economic environment because of their trail of destruction and they directly impact all sectors of the economy. Impacts range from loss of livelihoods and income, psychosocial impacts associated with fatalities and family bereavement, loss of biodiversity and disturbance of the hydrological balance. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to prevent veld fires because, besides the negative impacts of veld fires, fire also play an important positive role in many Zimbabwean ecosystems. In view of this, fire management should move away from fire fighting to management practices such as early burning that reduces the negative impact, and enhance the positive effects of veld fires.

Keywords:

Veld fires; Seasonally dry savannas; Biodiversity; Environment; Fire management

results of veld fires

veld fires if they are not controlled can go very far to an extent of leaving people homeless they can be dangerous to an extent that they can take away life..