Stellenbosch University honours internationally recognised disaster-management and response expert
The Western Cape provincial government’s Chief Director: Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue Services, Colin Deiner, received an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University (SU) at its December graduation. Deiner was awarded the degree Doctor of Engineering (Deng), honoris causa, on Monday (8 December 2025) at a graduation ceremony for the Faculty of Engineering.
He was honoured for his unwavering commitment to saving lives; his contributions to advancing disaster management and response services; and his generosity in sharing his expertise and knowledge across diverse platforms.
In his acceptance speech, Deiner expressed his deep gratitude for receiving an honorary doctorate from SU, highlighting the institution’s reputation for producing engineers who contribute significantly to the country. “It’s difficult to put into words what it means to stand here today to receive an honorary doctorate. It’s deeply humbling and a profound privilege on its own to receive it from Stellenbosch University, an institution renowned for producing engineers who shape our country, our future. And to be the first disaster manager to be honoured in this way, is something I accept, not only personally but on behalf of everyone in the disaster and emergency management services.”
He emphasised that this recognition signals that disaster management is no longer being seen as solely reactive but as an engineering challenge requiring scientific rigor and innovative thinking and a willingness to design solutions for threats that are growing more complex every day.
Deiner added that natural and technological disasters, building collapses, industrial accidents and failures of systems that were once considered robust are not isolated incidents, but symptoms of a world under immense environmental, climatic and societal pressure. “They remind us that disasters do not occur in a vacuum. They happen at the intersection of people, infrastructure and environment. That intersection is the domain of engineering,” he said.
“Engineering is the quiet backbone of resilience. It is the unseen mass behind the flood wall, the structural integrity of a bridge in a swollen river, the reliability of a pump station that keeps the city alive, the redundancy built into a power grid, the design of buildings meant to survive both time and catastrophe. Good engineering saves more lives before a disaster than any emergency team can do during a disaster,” Deiner concluded.
Deiner told the Engineering graduates that the work they do will directly influence whether communities thrive or collapse in the face of adversity.
More about Colin Deiner Colin Deiner is internationally recognised for his extensive expertise in disaster management and response. He has led South African search and rescue teams to disaster-affected areas across the country and abroad. This includes earthquakes in Turkey (1999), India (2001), Algeria (2003), Iran (2003-2004), Pakistan (2005), Haiti (2010) and Japan (2011), floods in Malawi (2015) and KwaZulu-Natal (2022), the 2017 Knysna fire disaster and the George building collapse in 2024. Deiner also coordinated the drought disaster campaign (Day Zero) in the Western Cape and the non-medical component of the Covid-19 provincial response.
In 2017, he was recognised by the Disaster Management Institute of Southern Africa for extraordinary service to the disaster management profession and in promoting disaster risk reduction in South Africa.
Deiner has shared his extensive expertise widely, contributing regularly to industry publications on disaster management, search and rescue, wildfires, and related topics. He has also collaborated with several Stellenbosch University departments – including Fire Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, the Research Alliance for Disaster and Risk Reduction (RADAR) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Division of Emergency Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences — to share his knowledge and support research and training initiatives.
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Cape Winelands District Municipality Fire Services celebrate new partnerships and fresh graduates
The Cape Winelands District Municipality’s (CWDM) Fire Services Training Academy celebrated the graduation of 23 firefighters on Friday. Unusually, the event was hosted at the Ysterplaat Air Force Base to allow the Department of Defence (DoD) graduates the honour of stepping out on their own ground. The firefighters completed various components of their fire training, including Firefighter 1, Hazmat Awareness and Hazmat Operations. The programme commenced on 18 August 2025 and concluded on 21 November 2025.
Waterbomber crashes en route to bushfire; crews battle bushfire as temperatures soar in Victoria, Australia
A pilot has been injured after their firebomber aircraft crashed while taking off on the way to fight a fire on Thursday, 4 December 2025. The aircraft crashed and caught alight at the Linga airbase about 60 kilometres west of the small farming town of Ouyen. The aircraft was a single engine air tanker (SEAT), which was providing operational support on a fire at Patchewollock. The aircraft was on fire as a result of the accident.
2025/26 Fire season launched with strengthened ground, aerial and water-rescue readiness, George
George Fire and Disaster Management Department officially launched the 2025/26 Fire Season on Friday, 5 December, at the Denneoord Air Base, highlighting the city’s heightened state of readiness for protecting the region during the high-risk summer period. The demonstration of firefighting resources included the 35 000-litre water tanker, several fire engines, 4×4 skid units, two Jet-RIBs and a rubber ducks, command vehicles and a rescue vehicle, with the total fleet valued at approximately R60 million. Kishugu Aviation, one of Southern Africa’s leading providers of specialised aerial firefighting services, showcased their aerial fleet, including two Huey helicopters, a fixed-wing bomber and two spotter planes.
Life at fire station depicted in original YouTube series ‘Rolling Sixes’, US
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety in Michigan, US, has launched an original YouTube series called “Rolling Sixes,” which depicts daily life at Fire Station 6. “As EO Technicians and members of the Kalamazoo Technical Rescue Team, these men and women face danger head-on while living, training, and working together under one roof,” the department said in a post promoting the official trailer for the series. “‘Rolling Sixes’ delivers a raw, cinematic look inside their world. From high-stakes calls to life at the station, every moment is captured with an intensity that puts you right in the middle of it. Produced, shot and edited by the department’s Public Information Officer alongside his normal duties, this series brings an unmatched authenticity.”
Five killed in a multi-vehicle crash on the N10 between Cookhouse and Gqeberha
On Sunday, 30 November 2025, a devastating multi-vehicle collision on the N10 national route between Cookhouse and Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape claimed the lives of five people and left others injured in what authorities have described as a tragic reminder of the ongoing road safety challenges facing South African motorists. The collision occurred mid-day on a remote stretch of the N10, a major freight and passenger route connecting the interior of the Eastern Cape with the coastal city of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). The crash involved at least three vehicles, two heavy trucks (interlinks) and a bakkie, which collided under circumstances that are still being investigated by authorities.
Aviation crisis leadership in focus as Dubai Airports shares real-world insights ahead of Intersec 2026
With extreme weather and new crisis regulations reshaping aviation operations, leadership readiness has become a mission-critical priority for how organisations plan, respond to and recover from crises. These will be among the key themes at the International Security Leaders’ Summit at Intersec 2026, where leaders from government, aviation, and national infrastructure will discuss how real-world experience influences their leadership strategies amid disruption. One of the most extreme operational tests the UAE has faced in recent years underscores this importance. On 16 April 2024, the UAE witnessed the heaviest rainfall on record, which the National Centre of Meteorology described as an exceptional event in the UAE’s climate history since the start of recording climate data in 1949.
2025 Road Safety Project launched at Shell Ultra City Pitstop Bloemfontein
Emergency services across the Free State came together today at Shell Ultra City Pitstop Bloemfontein, situated alongside the N1, for the official activation of the 2025 Road Safety Project. This year’s theme, “Stronger Together, Safer Together! Let’s Communicate,” emphasises the importance of collaboration and clear communication among all role-players during the festive travel period. Various emergency and support agencies gathered at the activation point, where they will remain on standby to ensure a safer vacation journey for thousands of motorists passing through the province. Their presence forms part of a coordinated initiative aimed at reducing road incidents and providing swift, effective responses when emergencies occur.
Nevada rescuers free man after 30-foot plunge into abandoned mine shaft, US
A Nevada County man was rescued by a team of firefighters early Saturday after falling down an abandoned mine shaft while searching for a lost dog late Friday, 5 December 2025, said Nevada County Consolidated Fire Department officials. Firefighters from Peardale Chicago Park and Ophir Hill fire departments discovered the man had plunged 30 feet down the shaft near Lower Colfax and Agony Hill roads. The technically difficult mission took hours and a team of 17 rescuers to pull the man from the shaft, said Nevada County fire officials.
Featured FRI Magazine article: Reciprocating saws – as important as hydraulic rescue tools? by Colin Deiner
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Reciprocating saws – as important as hydraulic rescue tools? Written by Colin Deiner, chief director, Disaster Management and Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government (FRI Vol 3 no 9). 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.
Fire stations of the world: Theale Community Fire Station in Berkshire, UK
A new, state-of-the-art community fire station was built in Theale, West Berkshire, UK. Theale is a tri-service community station, offering a shared location for Fire, Police and Ambulance under one roof. Work on the new station got underway in early 2020 and despite the many challenges posed by COVID-19, progress continued at a good pace and in a safe manner and crews relocated from Dee Road to the new site at the start of September 2021. While crews have relocated, the work is ongoing to finalise the station by moving in all the remaining teams, ahead of the formal opening ceremony.
Technology: Intelligent firefighting
In Europe, more than one million hectares had burned in wildfires by the end of August 2025, mainly across Mediterranean and Balkan countries – around three times the annual average between 2006 and 2024. In the USA, the National Interagency Fire Centre reported that by August the country had experienced more wildfire outbreaks than in any year since 2020. More than 500,000ac have been devastated so far this year in California alone. Many fire chiefs are advocating a shift from old-school reactive fire response to a more proactive model, enabled by such tools as artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled cameras and sensors for detection, live tracking, and monitoring of outbreaks.
Fitness: Wall balls
Wall Balls are great for the shoulders, legs and core and is really is a full body movement. Great exercise for any firefighter workout programme.
Vintage: The Cocoanut Grove Fire, Boston, Massachusetts on 28 November 1942
With 492 lives lost and countless others injured it is arguably one of the most tragic fires in history. It is recorded as the deadliest night club fire in American History and second only to the 1903 Iroquois Theatre Fire in Chicago that killed 602 people as the second deadliest single building fire in American History. This fire would set the groundwork for many City and State Fire protection codes throughout the country specifically those related to restaurants and night clubs. This is one of the few fires in Boston that all three Rescue companies operated at the same time. Rescue Company 1 was on the first alarm and Rescue Company 2 and Rescue Company 3 were special called by Deputy Chief McDonough after he ordered the 4th alarm.
Inspiration: Firefighter patiently lets a blind boy explore his uniform and gear
A firefighter let’s a little boy, who is blind, explore his uniform and gear so he can “see” it.
Source: Majically News
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