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South African firefighters to help fight Canadian fires
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The Working on Fire-Kishugu Joint Venture (WOF-Kishugu JV) deployed a team of more than 200 firefighters and management to the Canadian province of Alberta to assist with firefighting efforts.
Wildfires near the Canadian town of Jasper have forced more than 25 000 to flee one of the country’s largest national parks as multiple blazes and thick smoke descended on the Rocky Mountain community. The report said the town is home to 5 000 full-time residents, alongside 5 000 seasonal workers.
The request for urgent assistance came from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) in terms of the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Canada and South Africa. The MOU signed in 2019, provides for exchanging wild land fire management resources between the two countries. The WOF have been on five deployments to Canada between 2015 and 2023 based on the MoU. The five deployments include the historic deployment of 860 firefighters and management in 2023, one of the largest deployments of international firefighters to Canada.
The organisation said they have since finalised the deployment list of firefighters and management. The team trained at Kishugu Training Academy in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, for a training camp for final preparation before departure.
The group departed for Canada via a charter arranged by the CIFFC on Friday, 26 July 2024, from the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport and are expected to be there for 39 days.
Flying the South African flag high
“We extend our best wishes to the team as they embark on their deployment to Canada to help put out the fires raging in Alberta. They go to Canada to raise the South Africa flag and share their expertise and camaraderie with colleagues from other Canadian provinces and countries.”
The team includes pump-trained firefighters with valid yellow cards, with more than three years of firefighting experience and physically fit.
Meanwhile, 30 percent of the selected firefighters in the first deployment are women, including three members of the management team, which the WOF believes highlights its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
In addition, several of the team members have previous international firefighting experience, which further enhances their expertise in tackling complex fire situations.
“We are proud that South Africa is again able to assist Canadian firefighting teams in their battle to bring the wildfires under control. The extensive experience and training of these firefighters will significantly enhance efforts to effectively suppress and manage the wildfires in Alberta.”
Local operations
The WOF has since reassured all their partners and stakeholders that this deployment will not have any impact on South African firefighting operations. “Every one of our 200-plus firefighting bases in South Africa will continue to provide firefighting and fire prevention services to our partners and landowners.”
The organisation said they will still have just over 5 000 firefighters available at these bases throughout South Africa. “Should there be major wildland fire activities in our winter fire season provinces, we will, as we have done in the past, be able to deploy our Western and Eastern Cape firefighters to these hotspots. No partner and landowner will be left without any firefighting operations from Working on Fire, and we urge you to communicate with us directly should you have any enquiries.”
WOF is an expanded public works programme (EPWP) aimed at providing work opportunities to young men and women.
The programme, funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs, recruits participants from marginalised communities and trains them in fire awareness and education, fire prevention and fire suppression skills.
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| Fire at Sappi Saiccor Mill in Umkumaas after tanker explosion, KwaZulu-Natal |
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A fire and subsequent explosion occurred on a supplier truck delivering liquid oxygen (used for bleaching) to the Sappi Saiccor Mill in Umkomaas, KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, 17 July 2024. Sappi’s statement reads, “The onsite firefighting team of the Saiccor Mill responded immediately to the ensuing fire, assisted shortly thereafter by Durban Metro Fire and Emergency services.”
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| Chemical explosion sparks major fire at Melbourne factory in Derrimut, Australia |
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A chemical explosion has sparked a large fire at a factory in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday, 10 July 2024. Firefighters were trying to extinguish the fire in the suburb of Derrimut as fireballs and thick black smoke billowed over the factory. The factory contained a range of chemicals, including kerosene, fuel, methylated spirits and ethanol. More than 30 fire trucks and crews were at the scene, including aerial units, local media reported. Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) reported, “FRV is responding to a significant factory fire in Derrimut. The fire has involved a large chemical explosion and a fire. Crews arrived at the Swann Drive scene at 11h20am. Specialist appliances are on scene, including aerial appliances.”
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| Tzaneen covered in smoke as fires burn in Magoebaskloof, George’s Valley and Wolkberg Reserve, Limpopo |
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The Mopani District Disaster Management team, Mopani District Municipality Fire Department and the Letaba Fire Protection Association (LFPA) were fighting veldfires in Magoebaskloof and George’s Valley in Limpopo that flared up over the weekend of 6 and 7 July 2024. The strong winds on Monday, 8 July 2024, fuelled the fires and unverified reports state that one house in Magoebaskloof caught fire and that more homes were threatened.
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| Two firefighters killed in Italy as southern Europe swelters in a heat wave |
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A heat wave across southern Europe forced authorities in Greece to close the Acropolis Wednesday, 17 July 2024, for several hours and two firefighters died while putting out a fire in the Basilicata region in southern Italy, Italian authorities said. The two firefighters died on Wednesday while battling a wildfire near the southern Italian city of Matera, Italy’s fire and rescue service said on X. “This afternoon, during operations to fight a wildfire, two firefighters lost their lives,” it said.
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| Fires still raging across Lowveld and Highveld regions |
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A total of 15 000 hectares of land had already been destroyed by the veld and forest fires across certain regions of the Lowveld and Highveld from last week Thursday to Tuesday. The cause of these fires is not yet known as is the damages, which would be assessed at a later stage. The Lowveld and Escarpment Fire Protection Association’s (LEFPA) manager, André Scheepers, said that since last Thursday they had been battling to contain 15 different fires in parts of Bushbuckridge, White River, Mbombela, Kaapsehoop, Barberton, Lydenburg, Sabie, Badplaas and Machadodorp. The thousands of hectares of land damaged by the fires include grass, grazing, orchards and commercial forest.
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| Four Dallas firefighters injured as apparatus crashes off bridge |
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A Dallas Fire-Rescue engine crashed off an expressway bridge on Sunday and landed on a railway track below, injuring four firefighters. The crash happened just after 06h00am on the I-345 Expressway, Dallas Fire-Rescue Captain Robert Borse said. He said it was not immediately known Sunday what caused the accident or if other vehicles were involved.
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| Firefighters save a building from destruction when a shop caught fire in Pretoria West |
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The City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department responded to a building fire incident in Pretoria West in Dr WF Nkomo Street on the morning of Monday, 22 July 2024, where a shop was involved. Lindsay Mnguni, acting public information and media liaison officer at the City of Tshwane Emergency Services, said, “The building fire was reported to the City of Tshwane Emergency Services Call Centre (ECC) at about 05h02am. The ECC immediately dispatched a ladder and a district commander’s unit from Central Fire Station.”
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| Firefighting helicopter crashes in Italy |
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A Erickson S-64F Skycrane (reg. I-CFAG) helicopter, returning from a forest firefighting operation, crashed on landing at the Reggio Calabria Airport at 15h40 on Monday, 22 July 2024. The rotorcraft had returned to the airport after helping to fight a wildfire near the town of Reggio Calabria.
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| Meet Kishugu Aviation’s youngest bomber pilot |
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Meet Riaan Rautenbach, the youngest Bomber AT-802 pilot at Kishugu Aviation. With 19 years of service, his journey began in 2005 when he joined as a Spotter Observer. His fast learning skills quickly earned him the role of flying solo. For 17 years, he piloted the command and control spotter plane and in 2022, after an intensive two-week training in Spain, he transitioned to the mighty Bomber AT-802.
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| Featured FRI Magazine article: Testing multiple ignitions on a field scale to develop high intensity fires under mild weather conditions (low fire danger indices) for the control and/or eradication of invasive indigenous and alien plant species by Dr Winston Trollope (FRI Vol 2 no 7) |
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This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Testing multiple ignitions on a field scale to develop high intensity fires under mild weather conditions (low fire danger indices) for the control and/or eradication of invasive indigenous and alien plant species written by Dr Winston Trollope (FRI Vol 2 no 7). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
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| Fire stations of the world: Grand opening of Fire Station 13 in Cape Coral in Florida, US |
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The Cape Coral Fire Department hosted a grand opening ceremony of Fire Station 13, located at 2025 NE 6th Street on Wednesday, 17 July 2024. The programme included remarks from Mayor John Gunter, council member Tom Hayden and Acting Fire Chief Mike Russell. The station is 9 161 square feet and the construction site is 1,25 acres. “The addition of this station is necessary to match the increasing demands for service and growth of the city and to improve response times in this area that is rapidly developing with both commercial and residential projects and is a major thoroughfare in and out of Cape Coral,” said Acting Fire Chief Mike Russell.
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| Technology: Using machine learning to improve ambulance response times |
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Jordan MacLachlan, PhD candidate in Computer Science, is working on a project that could help save lives. His research applies machine learning to the challenge of emergency dispatch, with a current focus on ambulances. When someone calls for an ambulance, paramedics strive to arrive as quickly as possible. Simply sending the nearest available ambulance is rarely the best approach. Jordan’s models analyse the situation and urgency level to determine which ambulance or ambulances should respond to minimise response times.
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| Fitness: How to become a “resilient” firefighter/first responder, Part 1: defining resilient |
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Exercise has numerous health benefits and can help reduce many of the known health issues facing the fire service including mental health. Firefighters and first responders are dying of heart attacks and strokes, cancer and suicide. We also have a high number of first responders that suffer from the symptoms of PTSD. Consistent exercise can reduce heart disease and help manage blood pressure, it can aid in weight management, reduce cancers and ultimately help improve performance and prolong careers. What many members in the fire service are not talking about is how exercise can make you a more resilient firefighter, EMT and first responder.
Source: Fire Rescue Fitness (FRF)
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| Training: CMC LEVR weight control demo |
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Here’s a short demonstration on 2 examples of how much weight can be controlled with a CMC LEVR system.
Source: Dale G Pekel
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| Vintage: Fire engines: 1915 |
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Source: British Pathé
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| Inspiration: Quote of the week |
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