Murray, VWS crew leader, exits the Squirrel

The latest fire that swept through the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve last week was nothing short of disastrous. Young veld burnt again and all the eleven-year old veld has been destroyed, so that, in the words of a nature conservation official, “everything between Kleinmond and Paarl” is uniformly less than 3 years old. For biodiversity in Kogelberg, which is not known as “the jewel of the Cape Floral Kingdom” for nothing, this is potentially disastrous as the floral mosaic that ensures diversity has gone, and it means that recently fires have been occurring too frequently. Most of these fires are caused by humans, deliberately or otherwise.

On Saturday I was part of a Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS) Jonkershoek crew that responded to the fire call-out. We were deployed to Kleinmond and waited there until 4:30 pm before being airlifted, along with the local CapeNature firefighting team, to the peak above Heuningklip. The fire, which had orginally started near Kleinmond and swept north-west through Kogelberg to reach the coast between Rooiels and Kogel Bay, was backing up down to Kleinmond again as the wind clocked around. See the Google Earth track of our fire-fight and photos below.

View Larger Map
Or download the kmz file for viewing in Google Earth

When I saw the fireline, I wondered what chance we had. It ran east-west from the peak east of Kleinmond, down into a deep ravine north of Heuningklip farm, and up the other side, and was creeping southward towards the town. Anyway we worked our way south from the LZ and then started to fight the fire down a ridge to the kloof. The CapeNature team was phenomenal. They hit that fireline like Dervishes. With the help of the chopper we had the fire out down to the kloof in about 1.5 hours, a distance of some 2 km. The pilot of the Eurocopter Squirrel was an ace. In windless conditions he put out scores of metres of fire with each run, whereupon the combined CapeNature and VWS teams would suppress another section below that. The VWS team learnt a lot about effective beating and teamwork I think.

The fireline down to the kloof and up the other side. Click for larger sizes.

The Squirrel lifts another bucket over Kleinmond

Next time you see a scrawny little guy in thick, orangy gear with a beater over his shoulder, give him respect. He’s a CapeNature firefighter. These guys have been on duty every second day for four weeks now, fighting fires through the night. And they’re damned good at it. Absolute machines and proud of what they do. If it wasn’t for them the Cape Floral Kingdom would be more of a charred wreck than what it is today. I admire these guys and all the other people that do this thankless job for a living – unreservedly.

What's left of the area around the Palmiet

CapeNature team on the fireline

The long isolation of the Kogelberg area has helped to protect its floral wealth and keep it clear of alien vegetation, and today the reserve represents perhaps the finest example of mountain fynbos in the western Cape. It has a species list of 1 654 plant species, of which about 150 are endemic. Many spectacular members of the protea family occur in the reserve.

Source: CapeNature

As the VWS prepared to withdraw from the bottom of the kloof, the CapeNature team fought the fire up the opposite slope and disappeared into the night, their headlamps bobbing after the crackling flames. There was a mild scare as we bundu-bashed our way through really thick, tall bush down the kloof to our vehicles when we noticed a flare-up behind us. If it followed us with any speed we would be facing a big problem, but we were relieved to see it race up the opposite side of the kloof. However, the fire was now below the CapeNature team, undoing their hard work. We understood later that they may have lost the line because they had to backtrack.

Chopper does its thing

The Squirrel wheels away

Back at Incident Control we were able to enjoy water and food prepared by some unknown samaritans, while all the time wondering how the other team was doing as we surveyed the fiery mountainside. Eventually we were deployed to the golf course to assist the fire and rescue tenders as they stopped the approaching wall of flame short of some powerlines and the fairways. While there we noticed some wonderful people rescuing the small fauna that was fleeing out of the fynbos, including tortoises and chameleons, and lent a hand. I was happy to find and rescue an adult tortoise from an awful death. But I couldn’t help thinking of all the many thousands of small creatures that met their end over these days.

There was a tragic corollary to this story when an exhausted fireman was killed after he took a nap front of his tender and was accidentally run over by his comrades at the golf course. Terribly tragic with so many other dangers about.

Related posts:

1. VWS at Slanghoek fire Amazing photo isn’t it? See Andrew’s fantastic photos of VWS...
2. Hiking in Kogelberg The Kogelberg Biosphere and Nature Reserve is my playground. When...
3. Sea kayaking in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve On most weekends, Deon and I paddle and sail this...

VWS crew runs through the fireline to safe ground. Copyright 2010 Andrew Hagen. All rights reserved. Served from the VWS blog.

Amazing photo isn’t it? See Andrew’s fantastic photos of VWS Jonkershoek operations and read the VWS report. The fire started after a lightning strike.

Hats off to the volunteers for their selfless service in support of CapeNature and SANP in defending our unique biodiversity (I can’t claim to have been there as I was trekking in Patagonia at the time).

On 18 April from 08h00 to 14h00 VWS Jonkershoek is holding a Fynbos and Fire Awareness Day at the Assegaaibos reserve in Jonkershoek (opposite CapeNature offices). Become a volunteer!

Related posts:

1. Fighting the Kogelberg fire Murray, VWS crew leader, exits the Squirrel The latest fire...
2. Volunteer Wildfire Services Jonkershoek As I was contemplating a short post about the Volunteer...
3. VWS Jonkershoek firefighters in the Franschhoek mountains Unfortunately – and unsurprisingly – my words were prescient: it...

A crew of 10 volunteers reported to the Jonkershoek base at 06h00 on Saturday and then trucked through to Robertsvlei near Franschhoek where the firefighting base had been established. We watched the four Hueys set off up the valley to waterbomb the fireline while we waited for the Fire Boss to decide how to deploy us. Eventually, after a couple of hours waiting we boarded a Huey and headed up to a high ridge west of Fortsnek, from where we had to hike a couple of kays along the watershed to reach a fireline. We spent the rest of the day securing the line towards Emerald Peak with rake-hoes and beaters in a raging north-wester. It is amazing how a fire slowly moves into the teeth of a gale by causing adjacent vegetation to combust. So we were quite chuffed that we stopped that movement on the watershed, because from there the fire would move north into the Jonkershoek reserve which after sustaining 30% fire damage a year ago, has a lot of fynbos veld that needs to be free of fire for up to a decade at least.

In the late afternoon we radioed for extraction and prepared a landing zone near one of the peaks, but apparently wind and altitude (about 1300m) were concerns for the pilots. A debate then ensued about whether we should wait or start walking down. Some were apparently prepared to spend the night, but from experience I know that wind-swept mountains are not places to spend the night without appropriate gear. Eventually the wise decision was made to head for the LZ where we had deplaned in the morning and as we approached it from above the Hueys thumped into sight. The fast hike down to the LZ caused a couple of injuries, but we were happy to board the yellow machines – especially as it had become too late to pick our way down the mountain via Fortsnek.

However, the LZ which had featured intact vegetation but a few hours before was now a fire-blackened ridge. I don’t quite understand how the fire which was always south of us and on the southern aspect of the mountains somehow flared up north of and below us in Assegaaiboschkloof – this while a north-wester was blowing – and raced up the northern aspect to take the ridge late in the day. Our earlier satisfaction was immediately replaced by deflation.

To our surprise too, the chopper dropped us in a charred wasteland south of Franschhoek peak, on the opposite side from the firefighting base with the result that we spent about three hours waiting for a lift back. That was my first experience of a black ash-storm – the black stuff is still coming out of my ears.

View Larger Map

If the track doesn’t appear in the window above or you don’t want to install the plugin in your browser, then download the VWS operation’s Google Earth file and view it in Google Earth (download Google Earth) or see the Google Map below

The crew was ably led by Mark Randall and Hayley Marrison (VWS Jonkershoek station manager) who are both extremely keen volunteers. They pitch up at every callout and work party without fail – dedication to the cause.

In reflecting on the recent fires, it seems to be clear that almost without exception they were caused by human activity. The big one in the Groenland mountains was started by an arsonist, while this fire was apparently started when a Working for Water work party’s cooking fire escaped control. I would be quite happy to never be called out for a wildfire, unless it was caused by a lightning strike or to help control a controlled burn; my attitude is informed by concerns about the conservation of biodiversity and the effect of too-frequent fires on biodiversity. So I believe that the VWS should emphasise fire-prevention strategies such as awareness-building and education more in its activities. By “awareness” I don’t mean “awareness of the VWS” but awareness about the causes, dangers and ecological implications of fires…

View Larger Map

Official VWS site – Want to volunteer? Click here (note: apply before March of each year)

Related posts:

1. Volunteer Wildfire Services Jonkershoek As I was contemplating a short post about the Volunteer...
2. Franschhoek to Jonkershoek via Assegaaiboschkloof The mountain club’s plan was to walk from Franschhoek to...
3. Jonkershoek Panorama Route The Panorama Route is one of the Jonkershoek valley’s classic...

The VWS is an impressive organisation. Established in 1999 and entirely staffed by volunteers, it provides integrated wildfire management services to conservation agencies, specifically SA National Parks on the Cape Peninsula in Table Mountain National Park, and Cape Nature in the Jonkershoek, Hottentots Holland, Kogelberg and Limietberg reserves. Situated as we are in the fire-driven ecology of the Cape Floral Region, a World Heritage Site, regular fires in the fynbos are a fact of life.  And the summer fire season is underway…

There are 3 VWS stations: the HQ at Newlands, Scarborough and the new one at Jonkershoek. VWS can mobilise more than 140 volunteer firefighters and as I understand about 50 recruits were inducted in November. The training is thorough and the unit is well equipped – and I believe that VWS’ services are respected and appreciated by SANP and their professional, fire-fighting peers.

VWS new recruits 2009 at Open Day, Newlands base - photo by Nick Sales © Nick Sales. All rights reserved. Photo served by Flickr.

VWS Jonkershoek will be called out by the Cape Nature reserve manager in Jonkershoek, mainly to fight wildfires in the mountains of the reserve where the recent summer fires ravaged 30% of the vegetation. Biodiversity is consequently at risk should fires break out in areas that burned only 4 or 5 years ago, far shorter than the “optimum” no-fire period for fynbos. So where and when fires burn are crucial issues in Jonkershoek fire management during the next few years.

Much to our amazement we were informed that the patch of mountainous territory that we (VWS-JNK) are tasked to help protect is some 290 000 ha in extent! And a lot of it is pretty inaccessible except by helicopter. It could be an interesting summer…

For almost-realtime updates of fires refer to the Advanced Fire Information System.

VWS demo at Open Day 2009 - photo by Adriaan Wessels © Adriaan Wessels. All rights reserved. Photo served by Flickr.

VWS abseil training at Idas Valley dam

Related posts:

1. VWS Jonkershoek firefighters in the Franschhoek mountains Unfortunately – and unsurprisingly – my words were prescient: it...
2. VWS at Slanghoek fire Amazing photo isn’t it? See Andrew’s fantastic photos of VWS...
3. Franschhoek to Jonkershoek via Assegaaiboschkloof The mountain club’s plan was to walk from Franschhoek to...