Military approach to fire prevention at Montigny

Fire … forestry’s Number One enemy!

How the Montigny team keep unwanted fire out of their Eswatini plantations …

A return to sound forestry practices of the past coupled with the introduction of a military-style approach to fire management at Montigny Investments forests in Eswatini has had a big impact in reducing the number and severity of wildfires experienced in the company’s plantations. Key factors in the turnaround include improved community relations, a zero tolerance approach to arson and crime, well trained and drilled ground-based fire teams and astute use of tried and tested ‘old fashioned’ fire prevention methods coupled with modern technology.

Commercial tree plantations in Eswatini – particularly the Usutu plantation - have a history of fire, due to a combination of rugged, mountainous terrain, extreme weather events and a proliferation of arson fires.

Massive fires in 2007/8 destroyed large swaths of the Usutu pine plantation (then owned by Sappi) resulting in the eventual closure of the Usutu pulp mill and the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Montigny Investments, a Swazi owned and operated, integrated timber business, purchased the Usutu forests in 2014, bringing their total land holding to 80 000 ha of which 50 000 ha is planted. The Montigny team is renowned for its innovative and highly practical approach to business, and this approach was applied to the development of a fire prevention strategy that is designed to keep their plantations safe from massive fires such as the one that destroyed Usutu in 2007.

Aerial view of Montigny timber processing facility, Eswatini. Montigny processes more than one million tons of timber a year.

According to Montigny Forestry Manager Jurgens Kritzinger, they looked at the history of fires in the plantations that they operate, and discovered that in the old days there were fewer fires, less damage, better roads, good relationships with neighbouring communities and own operations. As time went by the ownership changes at Usutu led to outsourcing of operations, unhappy people and more arson fires.

The Montigny team turned the ship around by going back to some of the best practices that worked well in the past, re-introduced own ops using their own people and own equipment, put huge emphasis on building community relationships, invested in improved roads, planted dynamic wattle belts and employed a military expert to help them adopt a military-style approach to fire prevention.

Arno Pienaar was serving with a security company in Iraq when he was head hunted by Montigny to head up their fire and risk management function in 2015. Surprisingly, at the time of his appointment Arno had zero forestry experience and zero fire management experience. But the Montigny management were confident they had enough people with forestry and plantation fire experience already – what they needed was Arno’s military expertise.

Arno Pienaar … Montigny Group Risk Manager, presenting at the13th Fire Management Symposium at Nelson Mandela University’s George Campus, South Africa.

In 2015, the Montigny approach to fire management was introduced, with immediate results. That year the company suffered damage to just 18.4 hectares of plantation as a result of wildfire. Prior to that, average annual fire damage was 1 000 hectares. There was also a marked decline in the number of arson fires recorded.

This was not just a flash in the pan, a lucky break! The ever improving fire stats have been sustained to the present day, and speak for themselves:-

YEARHECTARES DAMAGED BY FIREARSON FIRES
2014606 ha
2015 (new system introduced)18.4 ha19
201674.8 ha11
201706
201845 ha5
2019590 ha6
20204.3 ha1
2021145 ha8
20222.9 ha5

Arno provided some insights into the Montigny approach to fire prevention at the 13th Fire Management Symposium held at Nelson Mandela University’s George campus in November 2022.

Fighting fires is a bit like fighting a battle, he said. Success depends upon clear objectives, good preparation and intelligence, the availability of well trained personnel on the ground, the right tools and plenty of ammunition.

All the elements of fire management were carefully analysed in the process of developing a comprehensive strategy that left no stone unturned: fuel load management and fire break preparation, fire detection, reaction, suppression, command and control at the fire front and in the control room, mop up and patrols.

Good intelligence is crucial, explained Arno. Know all the relevant facts.

Reducing the number of arson fires was a key priority. They analysed where arson fires were started, what time of the day (or night) they occur, the phase of the moon. People are predictable and criminal activities follow a pattern – understand the patterns and your counter measures will be more accurate, he said.

Manual harvesting and tractor-trailer short haul at Montigny South, Eswatini, maximises jobs from forestry operations. The Montigny Group employs 11 600 people making it one of the biggest employers in Eswatini.

Getting the community on side

Getting the community on their side was a key part of the strategy. Montigny is renowned for their community programmes. They have established an entire village at Bulembu that looks after over 350 orphaned and vulnerable kids, just one of a number of community projects which provide a good foundation upon which to build community relations.

A dedicated K9 team that breeds and trains bloodhounds to track and find anyone engaging in criminal activity on Montigny property has proved to be an extremely effective deterrent to crime and arson, but has also helped get the community on their side. Most of the K9 missions currently undertaken are in fact solving crimes against the communities living in and around Montigny plantations. Crime doesn’t only affect the forestry company – it also affects the communities deeply, and safety and security is high up on their priority of needs.

Now the criminals know that they are not going to get away with it, says Arno. Even if they don’t secure a conviction, the criminals are pointed out and the community knows who the trouble-makers are – they are the same people who start arson fires. Even the police frequently request assistance from the Montigny K9 team. Thus the community has become an ally and a valuable source of intelligence. So much so that the community stepped up and helped the Montigny team protect the plantation during the unrest that swept across Eswatini in 2021.

They also changed the rules around not allowing employees to give people lifts in company vehicles inside the plantations. A small thing, but the spinoff is significant.

“How can you drive past somebody in your company bakkie with Montigny signage on the side who has to walk 10 kilometres to the nearest bus stop, and expect them to support you?” asked Arno.

It’s this kind of thinking that changes mind-sets.

“The people on the ground realise that we are there to help them – not just to make money for ourselves,” said Arno.

Montigny forestry creates local jobs and utilises a network of subcontractors for timber transport and other operations.

 Staff selection and training

Staff selection and training is another key part of the strategy. Dedicated fire teams have very specific tasks and are drilled military-style until they are extremely fit and are experts at their job.

The Montigny team has cancelled their expensive plantation fire camera detection system and have instead established a network of old fashioned fire watch towers with 24-hour surveillance over every inch of the plantation. The tower guards report any smoke detected instantly to the control room, setting in motion a chain of action from highly trained fire-fighting teams that are geared to get to the fire front within 8 minutes.

The fire watch towers also contribute to preventing crime as the guards report any irregular or unscheduled activity in the plantation, which will be followed up and investigated by one of the 300 Montigny field rangers patrolling the plantation.

“We put out any fire that we detect within three kilometres of our boundary,” said Arno. “This is our rule, and there should be no deviation from it.”

A hard lesson was learned in 2019 when a fire was detected outside the Montigny boundary, but within the three km zone. The fire-fighting teams had been busy fighting another fire and were exhausted. Arno was instructed to leave the new fire as it was not in the path of the prevailing wind and was considered low risk. He was told that he was pushing the fire-fighting teams too hard. So he reluctantly left that fire. But the weather turned, the wind picked up and it entered the Montigny plantation and caused extensive damage. Lesson learned!

“You cannot make emotional decisions,” states Arno. The rules are the rules. No deviation.

Montigny fire team at the ready.

Fire boss training

Fire bosses were identified as a key link in the chain of command, and they receive dedicated, customised training. The Montigny team has developed a user-friendly software app that gives fire bosses instant access to critical info about fuel loads, terrain and weather at the fire site, as well as availability and location of fire-fighting teams and equipment, enabling them to make quick, informed decisions.

Arno says that in their experience aerial bombers have not been very effective, especially in the mountainous terrain as they have to drop their water from too high, so they rather rely on ground-based fire-fighting teams backed up with customised fire tenders and bakkie sakkies. Ground crews are needed to mop up after an aerial water drop in any event, so that is where they have invested their resources.

“In the military we know that the air force can give you the initiative, but it’s ground troops that will win you the war,” said Arno.
 
One of the biggest problems encountered by fire-fighters in rugged terrain is that they run out of water at some point, and the fire gets away while the troops are desperately trying to get more water to the fire line. Arno says this is unacceptable – you can’t afford to run out of ammunition in the middle of a battle. He saw a demonstration of a compressed air foam system and realised this could help extend the capacity of their fire-fighting units to extinguish fires. Now the Montigny fire tenders fitted with CAF systems use 10% water to 90% fire retardant foam to douse fires. This allows the water in the fire tender to last much longer, while also making the hoses lighter and easier to handle, allowing fire fighters to reach the fire front faster. He says his teams can deploy a 180 metre fire hose inside a compartment in 1.5 minutes. Speed is everything.

Using 90% fire retardant foam to 10% water turns a 7 000 litre fire tender into a 70 000 litre fire-fighting resource.

He likened the ‘chaos’ of a wildfire to the ‘chaos’ that troops experience during a gun battle.

“We broke down the 'chaos' element into small bits,” said Arno. Each element is analysed, prepared for and practiced over and over.

The Montigny team’s success in stopping wildfires quickly before they get out of control has significantly improved as a result of cool heads, good management and well trained fire-fighters.

However effective fire prevention starts long before the outbreak of an actual fire and involves every aspect of the forestry operation from budget allocation to fire break preparation, fuel load reduction and slash management, access road design and maintenance, personnel selection and training, community relations, equipment selection and availability, vigilance and readiness.

This takes a team effort and total alignment throughout the organisation with very clear objectives, concluded Arno.

Air drying timber at Montigny South, Eswatini. The Montigny team is able to extract maximum value from each and every tree that they harvest due to the diversity of markets that they supply.

Check out the related feature: Mega-fires, politics and the force of nature

Pursuing opportunities in a struggling economy – Notes from FSA’s 20th AGM

Forestry South Africa held its 20th Annual General Meeting in the KZN midlands recently, hosting a ‘live’ event attended by around 70 members and guests (numbers were limited due to COVID regulations) and many more who attended the virtual event.

Despite the fact that forestry in South Africa has been rocked by a string of disruptive events in the past few years, including the COVID pandemic and lockdown, riots and looting in KZN, freight rail and port disruptions, then floods in KZN again, the general mood at the AGM was positive and upbeat as stakeholders focused on tackling the challenges and finding solutions.

In his opening address FSA Executive Director Michael Peter said that the FSA team is working well with their Public Private Growth Initiative (PPGI) partners and making progress in addressing the major challenges confronting the forestry sector.

Likewise guest speakers Dr Azar Jammine of Econometrix and logistics consultant Ian Bird unpacked the problems we face across South Africa’s social, political and economic landscape, but pointed out the many opportunities that exist to turn it around, as well as some concrete steps being taken to do just that.

Themba Vilane, head of Mondi Forests in SA, is taking over from Busisiwe Mnguni as FSA Chairperson, while his deputy is well known KZN tree farmer Andrew Mason.

In her address, outgoing chairperson Busi Mnguni of the KZN Small Grower Group, revealed that the failed insurrection and looting spree that spread across KZN and parts of Gauteng in mid-2021 cost the Forest Sector around R656 million in physical damages and lost production. Before this unfortunate event the forestry industry was on track to record its best year since 2018 in terms of timber sales, which says a lot for the resilience of the sector.

Despite these disruptions, the industry recorded total timber sales of 13 153 million tons in 2021 – some 13% up on the volumes achieved in 2019.

Other noteworthy achievements notched up by the hard-working FSA team include:-

• Positive changes to the diesel rebate system
• Increasing FSA membership to well over 95% of timber growers in SA
• Securing access to state funding to support black participants in forestry
• Securing high court judgements in industry’s favour on Genus-exchange and the protection of water use rights.

Incoming FSA chairperson Themba Vilane revealed that the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) has approved FSA’s third round application for Sector Innovation Funding, in the amount of R 35,2m over four years. This success is due in no small part to the efforts of FSA’s Research and Protection Director, Dr Ronald Heath, with the support of the Research Advisory Committee, as well as the efforts of FSA’s partners in the PPGI.

Coupled with the R24m secured from the DSI in the first round of SIF funding and R11m in the second round, this means that FSA has secured R 70m from DSI over the past seven years!

The funding will be utilised in line with FSA’s funding framework which focuses on forest protection and sustainability.

Dr Azar Jammine, Director and Chief Economist at Econometrix, spelled out the dire state of the South African economy, which has a projected growth rate for 2022 of 1.9% - one of the lowest in the world. 35%-46% unemployment, a growing chasm between the haves and the have nots and a deepening technological divide, has led to a huge reliance on social relief. Capital investment has dropped to 13% of GDP (from 19% in 2014), and the lack of infrastructure development has had a crippling effect on the economy, he said.

Notwithstanding the fact that we have a ‘challenging’ economy, Dr Jammine said a lot can still be achieved if government can make the right moves.

“Hopefully President Ramaphosa will get a second term in office and have more freedom to implement the necessary structural reforms to spark an economic recovery, which would take a few years to manifest,” he said.

Ian Bird, Logistics Executive of Smartvest Investment, outlined the poor levels of service on the country’s freight rail lines as well as the ports, which is of critical importance for the competitiveness of the forestry industry. Problems on the ‘Wood Owl’ line which hauls timber from Mpumalanga and northern KZN to Richards Bay, as well as the branch lines serving the forest sector, have resulted in rail usage declining steadily over the past few years, and road usage increasing.

This has had the effect of increasing the costs of logistics while negatively impacting the road infrastructure.

Meanwhile he said that Transnet’s rail network is hugely under-utilised and ripe for private sector investment.

Transnet Freight Rail has eventually come around to this way of thinking, he says, and has offered two-year slots to the private sector to supply locomotives and wagons on the main Jhb to Durban container line. However he believes that these slots are too short-term to be viable in their present form.

He says that FSA is putting together a Rail Committee that will pursue opportunities for private sector participation in the coal line that is used by the Wood Owl train that hauls timber from the central forestry regions to the Richards Bay mills. Transnet has been receptive to the initiative for 3rd party access, and the operational head of Transnet’s rail line will be part of that committee. The initiative has been well received by stakeholders and he is optimistic that solutions will be forthcoming.

He says the forest sector has 4.5 million tons of timber a year available for train freight, which constitutes 7% to 8% of Transnet’s general freight cargo, which shows that we are not an insignificant stakeholder. Current timber volumes being transported on rail are 1.9 million tons a year.

The immediate plan is for the private sector to provide locomotives to pull Transnet wagons on the Wood Owl. This would overcome the problem of unavailability of locomotives which has been at the heart of the recent freight train service disruptions on the coal line.

The longer term solution would be for private operators to supply locomotives, drivers and wagons, while leasing the rail line from Transnet.

Private sector participation in freight rail and port handling will happen, there’s no turning back, said Ian.
“An exciting new era in structural reforms beckons.”

Municipal plantation in safe hands

While a number of municipal plantations around KZN appear to be falling into disrepair under inexperienced and inefficient management, the Vryheid municipal plantation is bucking the trend and flourishing in the hands of a no-nonsense ‘caretaker’ lessee who was raised on the farm and has a special interest in its future.

In 2020 Hendrick Mbatha secured a three-year lease to operate the 680 ha estate, located just outside Vryheid, which is owned by the Abaqulusi Municipality. It includes a scenic dam which provides the town with fresh water, as well as several hundred hectares of pine, wattle and gum.

Hendrick grew up on the farm and has been working in various capacities in the forestry industry for the past 25 years. Both his father and grandfather were working in the industry so forestry is in his blood. He says his family was moved off the farm in 1990.

In 2014 he lodged a land claim for the farm on behalf of the Grootgewacht Community, which to this day has not been resolved.

In 2020, when the previous 30-year lease for the farm came to an end, Hendrick put in a strong bid to take over management of the farm. He secured a three-year ‘caretaker’ lease and has been running the farm ever since.

Now forestry is a long-term business with tree rotations ranging from eight to 30 years, so there is not much you can expect a lessee to achieve in such a short space of time. But Hendrick has gone all out to maintain and improve the estate. He has renovated the dilapidated buildings on the farm and fixed up the recreational area around the dam that is used and enjoyed by locals. He has fenced the entire farm to keep out goats and cattle that were damaging growing trees, and has re-planted wherever he has harvested.

He has been converting some of the pine areas to shorter rotation gum and black wattle, which he believes makes business sense for the future sustainability of the farm. Gum species planted are a mix of E. grandis, E. dunnii and E. smithii.

With his three-year lease coming to an end all too soon, he is already busy negotiating with the Abaqulusi officials for an extension, pending the finalisation of the land claim.

“I want to keep the farm clean because it’s coming to us, so I work hard for the future,” says Hendrik.

He says that there was a lot of negativity in the district when he first secured a lease to run the farm, with many people predicting that it would rapidly fall into disrepair, as has happened in other municipal plantations around the province.

But Hendrick says that he has worked hard to build relationships with neighbours and local stakeholders, and many of the people who were doubting him before are now shaking his hand.

He supplies pine sawlogs to the previous lessee, RF Gevers, who owns a large sawmill nearby, and also allows them to cut grass around the farm for winter feed as it helps to reduce the fuel load, thus reducing the fire risk. He expressed his appreciation for the support he has received from the directors of RF Gevers who have provided him with assistance and advice over the past two years.

The picnic area around the dam is spic and span, the grass is mowed regularly and he has built braai stands and fixed up the toilet facilities – much to the delight of the local day visitors. He has also renovated an old building next to the dam and uses it as his office, equipment store and workshop. He has cut down some huge old gum trees growing wild around the dam, and says the dam’s water levels have risen as a result.

Standing pine is sold to RF Gevers; gum and wattle timber is sold to TWK and Sappi, and he has been supplying fresh wattle bark to NTE.

Eza Mapipa, Forestry Development Officer at NTE, is extremely impressed with the productivity on the farm which has supplied NTE’s Stillwater depot in Vryheid with some 700 tons of fresh bark during this past season.

“I am glad that NTE could open the market opportunity for Mr Mbatha so he could get paid the right price for his good quality bark,” commented Eza. “Mr Mbatha is doing a great job, and it is nice to see a municipal plantation that is running so well.”

Hendrick employs 25 people on the farm, and hires additional help when needed. The farm is not certified, but Hendrick says he will address that when the future of the farm is more certain. The timber growing on the farm is insured through Safire, and he joined the local FPA last year.

Hendrick and farm supervisor Mandla Ndlovu were happy to show SA Forestry around the farm and were clearly proud of their handywork. Farm roads are well maintained and have been recently graded, with good drainage ditches and runoffs. We saw a healthy wattle compartment where every fifth row had been felled and the slash stacked neatly in rows. A team of workers was busy hoeing around some recently planted Eucalyptus, and a local farmer was cutting and baling grass for cattle feed. Open and riparian areas are well maintained with little alien vegetation evident. The recreational area around the dam is immaculate.

Overall, we saw a shipshape tree farm run effectively by a highly motivated farm manager, who means business!



16.1% minimum wage increase for forestry workers

The National Minimum Wage for farm workers – including forestry workers – has been set at R 21.69 per hour, an increase of 16.1% over the 2020 minimum wage of R18.69 per hour.

The new minimum wage takes effect from 1st March 2021.

In the past the Minimum Wage for farm workers was set slightly below the National Minimum Wage, taking into consideration factors impacting on the rural economy in South Africa. However this special dispensation for farm workers no longer applies, with the farm worker Minimum Wage reaching parity with the National Minimum Wage from 1st March 2021. Hence the big jump of 16.1%, which is way ahead of inflation, currently around 3%.

A wage of R21.69 per hour translates into R 173.52 per 8-hour day, or R 3 470.40 for a 20-day working month – before deductions.

According to Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, the National Minimum Wage Act makes provision for employers that are genuinely unable to pay the National Minimum Wage to apply for official exemption.

While this wage increase will be good news for forestry workers, it is likely to be a challenge for many employers involved in the forest sector – particularly those reliant on manual operations – as their wage bill faces a hefty increase from March 1st.

Poor timing
According to Francois Oberholzer, Operations Manager for Forestry South Africa (FSA) which represents the majority of growers in South Africa, the timing of this wage increase is particularly unfortunate.

“The State has a history of poor timing and implementing major changes when conditions could not be worse,” commented Francois. “The implementation of the minimum wage should have been timed during periods of high growth and low unemployment. This increase comes when the country is experiencing record high unemployment and when businesses are the least profitable they have ever been.

“FSA did make a submission to the Minimum Wage Commission’s proposed increase. Like other industry associations in the agriculture sector, our recommendations were unfortunately not successful. As an industry we support the objectives of the Act regarding the need to eradicate poverty and inequality, but we would have preferred to see a phased approach to the equalization of the minimum wage.

“The 16% increase in minimum wage will without a doubt place a lot of pressure on the forestry sector. This is exacerbated by low international prices for dissolving pulp since 2019 as well as a poor production year in 2020 due to the pandemic that saw a 15% decrease in volumes produced year on year.”

According to FSA, this minimum wage could result in further job losses and increasing mechanisation in the forestry sector.

“It is a bit early to estimate any levels of job losses,” said Francois. “The forestry sector in many instances pays wages above the minimum wage. This is unfortunately not the norm and FSA will soon conduct a survey to quantify the impact of the significant increase in minimum wage which will provide some insight on possible job losses.”

Small-scale growers
Does this increase put wages out of the reach of most small-scale / community forestry operations … meaning they will likely be unable to comply, which has other consequences, e.g. they can’t get certified if they don’t comply with the minimum wage?

“The small and medium growers will undoubtedly be most severely affected,” continued Francois. “We do hope that all growers that will not be able to implement the new minimum wage apply for the exemption offered by the State.

Unfortunately, the exemption is only a one-year deferment and most small-scale growers will find it difficult to comply to the new minimum wage the following year. More information on this exemption is available on our website www.forestrysouthafrica.co.za.”

Not enough
Jerry Nkosi of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood & Allied Workers’ Union (CEPPWAWU), which represents some 3 000 forestry workers, welcomed the increase in the minimum wage, but said it wasn’t enough to address the inequalities in the South African labour market.

“CEPPWAWU welcomes the announcement by Government that the NMW for the forestry and farm workers will increase from 1 March 2021,” commented Jerry.  “However, given the inequality and the big gap between the income of forestry and farm workers compared to other sectors, the increase is not much significant. An increase is an increase but it is the value that counts. Is this a valuable increase? Yes. Does it address the gaps and inequalities? No.

“It is in this vein that CEPPWAWU is advocating for the amendment of the Constitution for the Wood and Paper Bargaining Council to include forestry. This will allow forestry workers to be covered by the Council and allow the Union to negotiate for them centrally.”

The forest sector currently employs around 59 000 people directly across South Africa. Latest figures show that nationally unemployment is edging above the 40% mark, with the majority of jobless people residing in rural areas.

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