South African firefighters

South African firefighters fly the South African flag high across the world

On 10 August 2021, South Africa sent out more than 100 of its very own brave firefighters — led by Mr Trevor Abrahams, Managing Director of Working on Fire (WOF) — to Manitoba, Canada for just over a month, to put out the exceedingly aggressive wildfires. This was SA’s fourth deployment of firefighters to Canada.

Canada Set Ablaze

At the end of June this year, the world was struck with devastating news regarding the village of Lytton in Canada’s province of British Columbia being evacuated after a wildfire began to wreak havoc.

The wildfires sparked after four days of excessive heat in the area. The evacuation of Lytton came just 24 hours after the U.S. National Weather Service announced that temperatures that week had reached an all-time high of 121 degrees in the village. This was a Canadian record.

Your commitment will serve as an example to members of the Working on Fire team - Minister Creecy

Since then, British Columbia continued to report more than a dozen other fires as the wildfires spread across Canada due to record breaking heat waves and associated dry weather. The extremely unusual weather conditions have highlighted the urgent need for addressing the drastic climate change and global warming that the Northern Hemisphere has witnessed these past 2 years.

With Spring being drier than usual in the region, these drought conditions contributed to the persisting blaze across much of western Canada. With a large number of provinces experiencing high fire alerts, Canada has thus far exhausted all available wildland fire management resources within the country.

SA’s Rapid Response

On Tuesday evening, 10 August 2021, 109 firefighters and managers from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s Working on Fire programme left South African soil to fly to Manitoba in Canada, as they geared up to join firefighting efforts in the region. The deployed team included 30 women, and 35 team members who have previous deployment experience to Canada. The

South African Minister of Forestry and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy encouraged the team as they embarked on their fourth deployment to Canada to safeguard Canadian homes, villages and wildlife. Creecy expressed her trust for the team as they flew the South African flag high.

“I would like to extend my good wishes to the Working on Fire team as you embark on your fourth deployment to Canada to assist in bringing the fires currently raging across Manitoba under control. I trust that, as in the past, you will fly South Africa’s flag high and that your camaraderie will stand you in good stead as you battle alongside colleagues from other Canadian provinces and cities to save lives and homes,” said Minister Creecy.

“Your commitment will serve as an example to members of the Working on Fire team who will be on standby to battle any wildfires that may break out here in South Africa as we near the end of our winter season”, she added.

A request for urgent assistance was received from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) which, in terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and South Africa, asked for support from WOF to aid fire management in Canada. The MOU accounted for the exchange of Wildland Fire Management Resources between countries.

Before departing, the SA team underwent refresher training in Hekpoort, Gauteng, which was geared towards ensuring that they were ready for the unusual conditions expected in Canada. This refresher training included map reading, power pumps usage, fire line safety, helicopter safety, as well as extensive predeployment training on the type of conditions that they could expect in Canada - including the various types of dangerous fauna species.

The WOF Programme

• WOF is managed through the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP).

• Working on Fire (WOF) is a South African, government-funded, multipartner organisation. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) provides the main funding and structure for the programme and forms an integral part of the South African Government’s future planning for the custodianship of South Africa’s natural environment.

• WOF contributes towards creating work opportunities, and facilitating skills training and personal development in marginalised communities across SA.

• Training in fire awareness and education is provided.

• Prevention and fire suppression skills training are also a key part of the programme. After which, successful candidates are employed as active WOF participants.

• There are currently more than 5000 participants in the Programme, 94% of whom are youth, 31% are women (the highest level in any comparable fire service in the world) and 3% disabled.

You can find out more about WOF at: workingonfire.org

Firefighting Team Selection

A crew of 100 firefighters and a nine-person management team was selected as a result of an in-depth selection process.

The selection process included the following criteria:

Exemplaryphysical fitness

Possession of avalid Yellow Card

+3 yearsfirefightingexperience

A valid SouthAfrican passport

Clear drug testresults

Having a clearcriminal record •