Media Release: GRDM Council and Staff acknowledge Firefighters on International Firefighters Day
For Immediate Release 4 May 2021
This day, 4 May, marks an important day on the calendar of firefighters all around the world, especially for the role they fulfil when protecting the lives of people, assets and livestock. On this day we remember all their efforts when they have to risk their lives to protect others.
While we all are fast asleep at night, they ensure our safety by protecting us from deadly blazes that could destroy our lives in an instant and when they are unable to save people and/or properties, they also feel the pain and heartache experienced by those families. We must recognise that firefighers also have families of their own who are burdened with the thought of losing one of their loved ones.
Simultaneously, with the Covid-19 pandemic still in our midst, the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) firefighting team plays a vital role in disinfecting various public places and facilities, to combat the deadly virus from spreading faster through the Garden Route. We are grateful towards all firefighters who participate in the initiative while they aim for a safer, clean and Covid-free environment.
Lastly, particularly on this day, we remember and pay tribute to all firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty – may their souls continue to rest in peace.
We respect and salute you all, every GRDM firefighter and volunteer!
Thank you for your dedicated and selfless service!
From Council, Management and Staff at Garden Route District Municipality.
Media Release: Adaptive Capacity Facility Climate Resilient Human Settlements Pilot Programme to be project managed by the GRDM
For immediate release 30 April 2021
Adaptive Capacity Facility Climate Resilient Human Settlements Pilot Programme to be project managed by the GRDM
The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) is one of three (3) district municipalities that were selected to be the beneficiaries of the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) Adaptive Capacity Facility (ACF): Climate Resilient Human Settlements Pilot Programme. The Government of Flanders will fund this programme through its Country Strategy Paper (CSPIII) over five years. The funds will mainly be used to implement climate change adaptation projects that build human adaptive capacity.
The programme intends to select projects across three (3) typologies. These include urban settlements, peri-urban settlements, and rural settlements. These settlement typologies fall under the banner of “testing climate-resilient human settlements”.
After an extensive two-day site visit investigation by DEFF from 22 – 26 March 2021, the high fire risks within the GRDM and the threat of these fire risks to vulnerable communities were identified as a focus area for a project that will be funded as part of the programme.
The first co-creation workshop (one of three planned workshops) was arranged in Knysna to workshop possible fire resilient projects and challenges. The workshop included all the key stakeholders within the project area and the participation of some vulnerable community leaders/members.
The day before the workshop, on 23 March 2021, DEFF’s videographer visited some key fire risk areas in the Garden Route to document the conditions and challenges on the ground.
At the workshop, various presenters provided information on the project focus areas, fire risks and impacts within the GRDM, as well as current and future climatic changes and predictions on what this will mean for the fire risks to vulnerable communities going forward.
The workshop also included conveying the traumatic experiences of stakeholders such as the authorities and vulnerable community members during the 2017/18 Knysna/Plettenberg Bay fires.
Second Workshop – 23 April 2021
From 21 to 23 April 2021, the GRDM, DEFF/ACF and critical stakeholders had a fruitful second workshop to have more detailed discussions on priority interventions to be unpacked into projects. The workshop outcomes included the following priority intervention categories:
Ecosystem-based fuel load management: To include block burning, fire breaks, alien clearing as well as an initial follow-up; fire-scaping; access /escape route management;
Early fire detection and monitoring: cameras and towers;
Training: Development of a training academy, train the trainer, “training – to be wildfire ready”, basic land management principles; workshops on legislative requirements.
During the two workshop engagements, all the stakeholders agreed upon the following project criteria. The GRDM will lead the project, and although the initial idea was that the interventions would be geographically focused in the Knysna area, particular emphasis will be on the areas identified as high-risk areas in the recently completed macro fire risk assessment by the GRDM.
The project will address fire risk from a climate change adaptation perspective. The project interventions must have a robust interface with human settlements (meaning that we need to consider the project interventions’ impacts on the selected human settlements, and we need to take into consideration the needs of that human settlement/s);
The project interventions will be located within an urban setting. This does not mean that the settlements need to be formal dwellings and “high-income” communities; on the contrary, grassroots communities vulnerable urban settlements will be the primary target audience. This means that informal settlements and forest communities with strong links to urban areas will be targeted.
Please find included the Impact Based Warning for the Western Cape and Namaqua Region of Northern Cape:
HAZARD: Veld Fire Conditions
ALERT LEVEL: Red (L10)
AFFECTED MUNICIPALITIES: Beaufort West, Hantam, Kannaland, Karoo Hoogland, Khâi-Ma, Laingsburg, Oudtshoorn, Prince Albert
VALID FROM (SAST): 12/03/21 08h00
VALID TO (SAST): 12/03/21 08h00
DISCUSSION: Weather conditions which include hot temperatures and fresh winds might result in the development of runaway and veld/bush fires.
Impact: Conditions are such that the FDI index is above 75. Under these conditions fires may develop and spread rapidly resulting in damage to property and possible loss of human and/or animal life.
Instruction: All personnel and equipment should be removed from the field. Fire teams, labour and equipment are to be placed on full stand-by. A first sign of smoke, every possible measure should b*e taken in order to bring the fire under control in the shortest possible time.
SOUTH AFRICAN WEATHER SERVICE
Cape Town Weather Office
2nd Floor: Oval Office Park
Cape Town Int airport
Freight Road
Matroosfontein
Cape Town
Affected Municipalities: Beaufort West, Breede Valley, Cederberg, Hantam, Kamiesberg, Kannaland, Karoo Hoogland, Laingsburg, Langeberg, Matzikama, Nama Khoi, Prince Albert and Witzenberg.
Valid From (SAST): 22/01/2021 – 01h00
Valid To (SAST): 23/01/2021 – 18h00
Discussion: Weather conditions which include hot temperatures, fresh to strong winds and low humidity might result in the development of runaway and veld/bush fires.
Impact: Conditions are such that the FDI index is above 75. Under these conditions, fires may develop and spread rapidly resulting in damage to property and possible loss of human and/or animal life.
Instruction: All personnel and equipment should be removed from the field. Fire teams, labour and equipment are to be placed on full standby. At the first sign of smoke, every possible measure should be taken in order to bring the fire under control in the shortest possible time.
Report any severe weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at telephone number 044 805 5071.
Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance. It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”
Affected Municipalities: Beaufort West, Breede Valley, Cederberg, Drakenstein, Hantam, Kamiesberg, Kannaland, Karoo Hoogland, Laingsburg, Matzikama, Nama Khoi, Prince Albert, Swartland and Witzenberg.
Valid From (SAST): 21/01/2021 – 08h00
Valid To (SAST): 22/01/2021 – 20h00
Discussion: Weather conditions which include hot temperatures, fresh to strong winds and low humidity might result in the development of runaway and veld/bush fires.
Impact: Conditions are such that the FDI index is above 75. Under these conditions, fires may develop and spread rapidly resulting in damage to property and possible loss of human and/or animal life.
Instruction: All personnel and equipment should be removed from the field. Fire teams, labour and equipment are to be placed on full standby. At the first sign of smoke, every possible measure should be taken in order to bring the fire under control in the shortest possible time.
Report any severe weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at telephone number 044 805 5071.
Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance. It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”
Media Release: Garden Route District Municipality and stakeholders bump up efforts to extinguish peat-wetland fires
For immediate release
26 August 2020
On 26 June 2020, the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Fire & Rescue Services commenced with efforts to finally extinguish peat fires in the Garden Route district. One at the Kamma River in Bonniedale, Mossel Bay and the other at Weyers River in Bergfontein, Albertinia. Peat-wetland fires pose a threat to ecosystems by releasing smoke and heat through soil and vegetation, compromise wetlands.
Mr Deon Stoffels, Station Officer: Fire Safety and Training from GRDM at the peat fire in Bonniedale.
The response from the GRDM Fire & Rescue Service officials was first to assess and demarcate the exact extent of the peat fires. According to Mr Deon Stoffels, GRDM Fire Station Officer for Fire Safety and Training, smoke was evident on arrival – in small pockets appearing from underground”. This necessitated follow-up site visits on 29 June and 02 July 2020 whereby thermal images were captured with the municipality’s Thermal Imaging Drone to map and confirm the underground fire activity.
Mr Johan Brand, Station Officer from GRDM Fire and Rescue Services holding one of the tools utilised in the testing and assessment of the sub-surface layers.
The above-mentioned site visits were followed up in middle July for the purpose to capture more thermal imagery to estimate the extent of the spread after two periods of moderate to heavy rainfall. Following the assessment, it was confirmed that the spread of the fire continued.
On the 28 and 29 July 2020, all role-players engaged in on-site visits and the peatland specialist from DEFF, with the assistance of representatives of GRDM Fire & Rescue and Cape Nature, performed assessments and tests. “These were done to determine the full extent of the peat fires, e.g. depth of underground fire activity, condition of the wetland, as well as the environmental and ecological impact of the fire and if continues, the fire activity,” Mr Stoffels, said. After assessments and tests were completed it was jointly agreed that an Offensive Strategy would be the most practicable approach to deal with the underground and/or peat fires which include;
preventing the spread of fire;
fighting and extinguishing the fire; and
protection of life and property against the fire or other threatening danger:
In this case also, the protection of the environment against the fire and other threats.
The strategy will assist in mitigating adverse impacts on the environment, as well as aid in protecting and sustaining the biodiversity of wetlands. Role-players such as GRDM Fire & Rescue, the landowners, Cape Nature, Working for Wetlands, Southern Cape Fire Protection Association and Working on Fire were involved from beginning of the process, however the GRDM Fire and Rescue Services and the landowners started with their operations on 19 August 2020 and Cape Nature on 21 August 2020.
According to Dr Nina Viljoen, Manager for Environmental Management as GRDM, peatlands are present in a third of wetlands worldwide, which contribute a range of ecosystem services. The most pronounced services are biodiversity conservation, water quality and climate regulation. The addition of peat to a wetland allows these wetlands to have additional ecosystem services. She added: “The unique properties of peat allow for a variation in the dynamics of the ecosystem services provided. This makes peatlands a major contributor to wetlands’ increased capacity for climate, water quality and quantity regulation, biodiversity conservation and waste assimilation”.
Areas in the Garden Route district affected by the wildfire. Thermal images captured with the Thermal Imaging Drone of Garden Route District Municipality.
Dr Viljoen further explained: “The destruction of peatlands by means of fires causes a visible and immediate degradation in the integrity of the aquatic ecosystems downstream of peatlands. This causes major changes to change the hydrology of the peatland system, as well as rivers and associated ecosystem health. Compared to global abundance, she said: “Peatlands are an extremely scarce ecosystem type in South Africa, with only 1% of total wetland area being peatlands. It provides water quality (water purification and waste assimilation) function which causes peatlands to demonstrate a very significant ecosystem services value”.
What is peat?
Peat, also known as turf is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding or stagnant water obstructs the flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing the rate of decomposition.
Peatlands cover approximately 3% of the earth’s surface. The global carbon stored in peat is estimated to be about 500 billion tonnes, which is approximately 30% of the world’s soil carbon. Furthermore, peat stores 10% of the world’s fresh water”.
Peatlands are more valuable than normal wetlands due to the presence of peat stocks within them. Based on the services evaluated and the available data, the value of the cumulative services provided by South African peatlands was estimated to be as high as R174 billion, expressed as an ecological infrastructure value. It is therefore of the utmost importance to protect these type of wetlands against destruction, and to assess the causes of these two identified peat fires in the Garden Route district.
How do peat fires occur?
Peat fires can occur sporadically in smaller peatland systems due to system dehydration and desiccation brought on by either drought (the presence of a heat source), localised draining or flow interruption by roads – it smoulders. These smouldering fires can burn undetected for very long periods of time (months, years, and even centuries) propagating in a creeping fashion through the underground peat layer.
The current drought in the region and associated peat fires bear testimony to the vulnerability of these ecosystems to the variability in our climate patterns which can result in drought-induced peat fires in the Western Cape.
Media Release: Ecological grief sets in as the lockdown highlights the looming plight of greater humanity – the destruction of our environment
For Immediate Release 26 May 2020
“In an ongoing series of debates with experts in various fields, the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) seeks to highlight aspects related to COVID-19 demands on humanity, and that which is unfolding as climate change steadily brings about corresponding and irreversible changes with daunting challenges,” says Cobus Meiring of the GREF Secretariat.
The matter of the fairly new concept of ecological grief and human behaviour, which was instigated by COVID-19, highlights the looming plight of greater humanity: the destruction of our environment.
According to Hanna Kotze, an organisational culture consultant and clinical social worker, climate change brings an unknown threat to normality in terms of how humans will experience the environment, and it will do so in many respects that are more often than not difficult to comprehend or even believe. In as much as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is invisible, but the threat is very real and present, so is climate change, and humanity sense the danger, which in turn brings about a constant anxiety.
Says Kotze, “Ecological grief is a relatively new term for the subconscious but the concept embraces the collective grief humanity experiences when witnessing and experiencing loss of biodiversity and the destruction of the natural environment.”
“Natural disasters with their roots in climate change, such as the recent Knysna wildfire disaster, catastrophic drought in South Africa, Hurricane Katrina in the USA, wildfires in Australia and Europe, and the Idai tropical cyclone in Mozambique are all examples where humanity suffers from ecological grief, which no doubt impacts on the emotional well-being of nations affected,” explains Kotze.
“Many of us may feel paralysed by panic over climate change and overwhelmed by the pace and scale of ecological losses. Mourning nature does a great service by giving a name to this grief, setting us all within a community of others who mourn alongside us, and by guiding us to respond not with despair but with hope and courage”.
“Hopefully, the advent of COVID-19 will have the right kind of response in how we ensure a more sustainable future in South Africa and the world, and planning for what is to come will go a long way in ensuring just that,” concludes Kotze.
Humanity feels overwhelmed by the sheer destruction of our environment brought about by increasingly devastating natural disasters with their roots in a changing climate. (Photo: SCLI)
The Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) is a public platform for environmental management entities in the Southern Cape, and a regional think tank on climate change mitigation and adaption.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Cobus Meiring: Chair of the Garden Route Environmental Forum Secretariat
Garden Route District Municipality is home to seven (7) Women Firefighters, who form part of a group of 40 Firefighters (including station officers and fire chief). Although being underrepresented in a male-dominated environment, they are a force to reckon with.
Structural and cultural factors have a definite influence on the disproportionately low representation of women in firefighting. Such factors often play a role in making the career-choice seem inhospitable to women. Despite this, a “conscious and continuous” attempt by educators, firefighters and parents can help expose youngsters, especially women, to the profession.
INTERVIEW WITH WOMEN FIREFIGHTERS AT GRDM
During an interview with six of the seven women Firefighters at GRDM, who include Ms Bonita Conrad, Ms Kuthala Maki, Ms Odri-Anne Booysen, Ms Devonia Cupido, Ms Elana Basson and Ms Michelle Smalberger, a few assumptions were presented to them.
Assumption 1: Women have to first showcase their knowledge and experience in firefighting before being accepted by their male counterparts.
All women firefighters felt that this was true.
Assumption 2: There is a sense of pressure on women to do the same or even better than their male counterparts.
Interviewees felt the assumption was correct, but despite this, acknowledged that they do not feel that they are treated unequally to their counterparts at GRDM.
When asked what the most important parts of their firefighting jobs are, they agreed that “protecting lives, infrastructure and the environment,” are at the top of their list of reasons.
Near the end of the interview, a question was asked with the intent of making women firefighters think about their worth and potential. “Would you consider fighting in an all-women team?” One firefighter responded by saying – “we need men by our side to fight fires”. Moments later, one firefighter challenged this response and said: “We will be able to fight a fire on our own. Why are we doubting our own capabilities?” With this moment of truth, interviewees had a moment to think deeply about these misperceptions.
Now the question is why did these powerful women for a moment think that they wouldn’t be able to face a fire as an all-women team? Is it a cultural phenomenon? Something we see on television, hear on the radio or read about in newspapers? What really shapes this perception? This is one of the many questions we have to ask ourselves to break the glass ceiling.
One of the Senior Firefighters, Ms Bonita Conrad, twice over the past few years came out at the top of her age group at the South African Toughest Firefighter Alive Competition.
Six (6) of the seven (7) women firefighters at Garden Route District Municipality, front (fltr): Ms Odri-Anne Booysen and Ms Michelle Smalberger. Back (fltr): Ms Elana Basson, Ms Kuthala Maki, Ms Devonia Cupido and Ms Bonita Conrad.
THE DISTRICT WAS FIRST IN WESTERN CAPE TO APPOINT A WOMAN FIRE CHIEF
GRDM has also been dedicated to gender-transformation in firefighting for more than a decade. The District Municipality, in 2006, was the first to appoint a woman Fire Chief in the Western Cape – Ms Annelise Lamprecht-Virtue. She is truly a trailblazer in the field of firefighting. During the October 2018 Garden Route fires Western Cape Government tasked Annelise to assist the district and local municipalities in providing strategic leadership. Her tenure at Western Cape Government as the Assistant Director: Fire and Rescue Services, started in January 2012. Annelise confirmed during a telephonic interview that she will take up a position as Fire Chief at Witzenberg Municipality on 1 September 2019.
Garden Route District Municipality wishes Ms Lamprecht-Virtue all of the best with her future endeavours.
Garden Route District Municipality’s fire fighters have departed from the Ruitersbos area. Cape Nature and Witfontein Working on Fire crew members will continue with mopping-up operations and will monitor the area for any flare-ups.
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Garden Route Fire Update, Ruitersbos 2019/05/14 @ 11:00
Affected area stretching over approximately 6 hectares. The wildfire is reported to be under control and not posing a threat to life or infrastructure.
Role players / teams on the scene:
Garden Route DM
Mossel Bay Municipality
Cape Nature
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Garden Route Fire Update, Ruitersbos 2019/05/14 @ 10:00
Mossel Bay Fire Services requested assistance from Garden Route District Municipality Fire Services.
Initial Response:
5 Crew
1 Skid Unit
1 Medium Pumper
