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20
GRAANGIDS
2016
GRAIN GUIDE
Prepare for the
fire season in time
Veld fires cause major damage for producers every year. Frans Marx from Wolmaransstad, director
of Suidwes and very successful head of the FPA, agreed to share a few pointers with us on the
basis of his experience.
Tips for preventing veld fires
• Make and maintain your firebreaks in time every year. Every landowner and tenant is legally
obliged to do so. Make sure they are free of flammable material – a bush slasher does not cre-
ate a firebreak.
• Speak to workers regularly and teach them the risks of open fires.
• Make sure the areas where food is prepared on open fires are clear.
• You are advised to make wide firebreaks around your workers’ homes.
• Do not do the following on days when there is a strong wind:
– Use cutting wheels near dry grass.
– Weld in the open (gates, windmills, straining posts, etc.).
– Grade roads with a grader on stony ground.
– Mow with bush slashers.
– Mill feed.
– Make baulks and burn fields.
• Tractors that have done light work for long periods and suddenly do heavy work can emit
sparks from the exhaust, which can cause a fire.
• If you have to do any burning, do it early in the morning.
• Clear the shoulders of secondary roads and keep the grass short so that backfires can be
made easily.
Tips for combating runaway veld fires
An overhead fire strategy should exist to prevent runaway veld fires. This is usually the task of the
Fire Protection Association (FPA), but in cases where this association does not exist, producers can
plan this themselves and draft a plan. This plan should cover the following:
• Plan where runaway fires will be stopped, in other words at major gravel roads or large
firebreaks. It is important for all landowners (owners and tenants) to be thoroughly aware of
where these points are, so that there is no doubt should a runaway fire occur, where the
backfire should be made.
• Plan for three groups to stop a runaway fire:
– Group 1 is the team that will make the backfire in order to stop the fire.
– Group 2 is the team that moves in from the left, behind the fire, to extinguish it from behind.
– Group 3 is the team that moves in from the right, behind the fire, to extinguish it from
behind.
• Communication is extremely important and two-way radios should be used, as cellphones
are ineffective.
• Good control of runaway veld fires is important. The FPA fire chief usually takes the lead, but if
such an association does not exist, the owners should identify and appoint a leader. It is also
important to identify other persons – at least three per region – who can take the lead.
• The aftercare (casting of dung, logs and other material that is still smouldering) is very impor-
tant on either side of the fire so that another fire does not flare up. Someone should be tasked
with this. By law the landowner is obliged to ensure aftercare at the fire.