Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Forests on fire

Sappi and Mondi workers putting out spots of fire throughout the forest

Blame it on ignorance or a lack of knowledge, but what started as burning rubbish inside the Mtubatuba dumpsite, almost turned to tragedy. A municipal worker was busy moving burning litter with a front-end loader when it got swept away into a nearby coppice compartment of young gum trees which set the forest on fire. With a wind speed up to 60km/h the fire quickly escalated through 50 hectares of forest, swept through the graveyard and workers managed to stop it just in time before it reached Norwood village. ‘If rules were applied this could have been prevented,’ said Head of Zululand Fire Protection Association (ZFPA)Tony Roberts. ‘Under normal conditions, all mechanised equipment is withdrawn from field operations because of the high fire danger index (FDI).’ The FDI for Friday 2 September was 89%, spelling extremely dangerous conditions. With the humidity being down to 10%, temperatures soaring at 37.5 degrees and a wind speed of 60km/hour, trying to breach the fire turned into a nine-hour struggle. Close to a hundred Sappi and Mondi foresters, workers and fire crew all involved in trying to save their forests and a village were called upon when word got out Rural Metro were unable to assist as they were already busy attending to a fire in Hluhluwe. Roberts called in a Turbo Thrush Water Bomber to drop water over the worst affected areas and workers spent most of the evening trying to set out spots of fire. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation and will be presented to the Mtubatuba Municipality for comment.