By Chris Chapman

The 14^th Fire Management Symposium, held in Karkloof in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Midlands, was well attended by FPA managers, firefighters, land managers, foresters, researchers and trainers, once again proving its worth as the country’s premier fire indaba.

Karkloof was an appropriate venue for the event, as it is located in the heart of the midlands forestry belt that has had its share of destructive wildfires over the years. However, the rain and mist that persisted throughout the symposium meant there was no chance that participants would be called out to attend to a fire emergency, so they stayed through the three days networking and engaging with a wide range of issues raised by presenters.

The theme of the symposium was Education and Training for Effective Fire Management. This issue sparked vigorous debate among training service providers and stakeholders who say they are grappling with a complex policy framework that seems to be heaping more layers of bureaucracy and unnecessary admin onto their jobs without improving the quality of training and learning.

The cost of big fires is unknown

Keynote speaker Ronald Heath of Forestry South Africa set the scene for the symposium, describing the enormous impact that wildfires have on a country. He said many commentators focus only on the economic impact of fires. Still, there are also human, social and environmental impacts to consider. There is a general lack of data, and the actual cost of big fires is unknown.

Ronald said the net impact on the economy of the 2017/18 fires in the Western Cape was around R1.3 billion for growers and R2.1 billion for processors. But this excludes the harvesting and extraction costs of the post-fire clean-up operations, the re-establishment costs and the loss of yield due to the shortened rotations.

Nor does it consider the associated costs of business disruption, the 30% reduction in tourism revenue in the aftermath of the fires, the loss of jobs, the social disruption and the enormous environmental impacts. These include the loss of biodiversity, erosion and soil degradation, the decline in air and water quality and the release of CO² into the atmosphere.

He cited a study that found a 6-13% reduction in springtime rainfall across Africa due to reduced evapotranspiration from soil and vegetation due to fire. The forestry sector in South Africa loses 15.6% of its annual harvest to fire, which translates to R546 million worth of roundwood lost and an estimated R2.8 billion in additional downstream processing.

Wildfires are inevitable

Looking to the future, Ronald said more wildfires were on the cards due to several factors:

• Climate change and an increase in extreme weather events.
• Massive increase in urban populations which would expand the urban-rural interface.
• Changes in land ownership and land management.

Tools that are needed to counter the expected increase in wildfires include:

• More accurate climate data at a regional and local level
• Technology advancements
• Increased capacity to measure and model
• Enhanced rapid response capabilities
• Improved collaboration between stakeholders
• Improved education, training and fire awareness.

Grasslands

Bryan Yockers, education and outreach facilitator with the Prairie Project (USA), shared fascinating insights into grassland management. He said the Great Plains biome, which runs through the centre of the North American continent, is collapsing.

This results from woody plant encroachment, which is taking land out of agricultural production, causing loss of forage, collapse of grassland wildlife, reduced water quality and quantity and increased wildfires. The solutions include multi-species grazing and prescribed burning. He said fire and multi-species grazing are critical factors in rangeland health.

This info was echoed in a later presentation by Conservation Manager Navashni Govender, who explained how bush thickening in the Kruger National Park has a similar impact on the savanna biome - a consequence of fire exclusion.

Tribal Councils

Eric Stoch, chairperson of the Northwest Umbrella FPA, described how working closely with the tribal councils and local communities and tapping into local indigenous knowledge has sparked a turnaround in their prevention of wildfires in this rural province. Tribal council representatives serve on their executive committee and act as brand ambassadors for the FPAs.

“A fire is a fire. There are no black fires or white fires”, Eric commented.

He added that Working on Fire provides valuable support to the FPAs and should have their budget doubled. The FPA also puts a big effort into fire awareness and training, free for FPA members.

Communication and collaboration

SAFCA CEO Roger Johnston highlighted the need for more communication and collaboration between contractors and growers when it comes to effective training for fire prevention. “Foresters and contractors must learn to work together”, he said. “Train as a team and not in isolation”.

Regarding safety, he said, “Train to not take chances!” Regarding establishing priorities during a fire, “people first, dwellings and equipment second, plantations third”.

Aerial support

Experienced pilot Frank Smook of Kishugu Aviation, who provides aerial support for firefighters across the country, shared some insight into what it takes for these ‘guardians of the sky’ to do their job. Most light aircraft pilots fly when weather conditions and visibility are good. On the other hand, fire bomber pilots must fly when conditions are extreme, and visibility is poor. It’s not for everyone, he admitted.

He clarified the role of the fire bombers thus: “Aircraft don’t put fires out – we cool them down, and ground crews put the fires out”.

Community engagement

Thobi Mkhize of Mondi’s stakeholder engagement team spoke of the importance of community engagement and fire awareness to prevent unwanted fires.

Mondi has some 240 communities surrounding their plantations, of which 70 are located on Mondi land, along with 56 schools. “They are critical stakeholders in fire prevention”.

She said it was essential to establish a link between the extent of fire damage on plantations and how it affects the capacity of the grower company to provide jobs and resources for CSI initiatives and how this impacts communities.

Mondi has a no-fire bonus scheme with some communities, which has proved highly effective in reducing the number of fires.

The QCTO is out of touch

Jeanette Relling of the Kishugu Training Academy sparked robust debate when she described the challenges experienced by forestry companies and training service providers becoming overburdened with bureaucracy and red tape.

She said that the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO), which is the state entity responsible for the development and management of occupational qualifications and accreditation of skills development providers and assessment centres, is slow to respond to requests and is not aligned with industry’s needs.

Her sentiments were echoed by several attendees from the floor during question time.

James Ballantyne of Kwamahlati Training delved into the implications of the Occupational Health & Safety Act. “Take all necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of your employees”, he said, reminding growers that they cannot sub-contract out their responsibility for the health and safety of workers.

Forest21

NMU lecturer Hannes van Zyl spoke about problem-based learning and collaboration, which is the approach adopted by the EU-sponsored Forest21 programme. This centres around students working together to solve real-world problems rather than learning facts that do not deepen their understanding of the subject matter.

Preparation is key

Hannes Vosloo, Fire Risk Manager at Sappi Mpumalanga, described their approach to preventing fires. Sappi teams spend nine months preparing for fire season, including servicing and upgrading equipment and infrastructure, conducting community engagement and awareness campaigns, preparing fire breaks and access roads, training and drills.

The high fire danger season lasts about three months and is followed by in-depth reviews, and then the whole cycle starts again.

Hannes stressed the importance of early detection and rapid response. “We try to get to fires early while they are still warm. We over-react – it’s cheaper to turn aerial support back when not needed than not having it early when needed most”.

Landscape fire experiments

Wildfire forensic investigator Matthew Danckwerts gave an interesting presentation on a series of landscape fire experiments conducted in the Eastern Cape.

Surprisingly, the study concluded that fire pattern indicators are not as reliable as previously thought and need to be interpreted in combination to reach conclusions about the origin and behaviour of wildfires. The exceptions to this principle are lee side charring on pole-type material and under-cutting of grass stems, which are reliable indicators of wind direction and fire intensity.

Technology

Laura Coetzee of Baobab Sentinal provided info on new solar-powered gas sensors that can be strategically placed inside and around plantations to detect fires while they are still in the smouldering phase, even before they start flaming. This facilitates early detection and early intervention by fire teams.

Kelvin Price of Vital Weather explained how technological advances have enabled the integration of dislocated weather data into one platform. This improves weather forecasting capability and is helpful for post-fire analysis and reports.

Rounding up the indoor sessions were a number of presentations on the legal implications of wildfires and the National Veld and Forest Fire Amendment Act.