TALK REPORT: APRIL 2017

-Andrea Benn

Co-existing with wildfire – A presentation by Ryan Heydenrych and Dean Harrison, Directors of Vulcan Wildfire Management: Saturday 22 April 2017

This talk was an excellent, informative presentation.

The day after the talk I did a walk around Betty`s Bay with this question in my mind, ‘Were we ready for a wildfire this summer?’ Within 100 metres of our home were three properties heavily infested with large alien invasive species! Since the last fire we have tried as far as possible to reduce the fuel load on our property, but there is more to be done.

Reaction versus preparation

A change of approach to the management of wildfires, from reaction to preparation, is needed.  Fire in fynbos is often a beneficial natural process but people and their homes can be catastrophically affected. Hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes are all natural processes, and we prepare for them. With wildfires, however, there is generally more reaction than preparation. Disasters actually begin well before a wildfire starts through lack of preparation. It helps to shift our focus to better preparation and take steps to protect our properties, making reaction to wildfires more effective and less costly. However, we often lack the knowledge and resources to do so. Vulcan Wildfire Management offers a service to property owners to assess the risk factors and give advice. Check their website at www.vulcanwildfire.co.za.

Fire in fynbos

In preparing for and managing the fire risk in fynbos areas, it helps to know some of the special features of fynbos fires, for example:

(1) Frequency – the normal frequency of fynbos fires is between 10 and 25 years, depending on the type of fynbos. Knowing when the last fire occurred and when the fynbos on or near a property is ready to burn helps one to be prepared.

(2) The time of year – The height of the fire season is from January to April. It is important to exercise special care to prevent accidental fires and to be prepared for fires at this time of year. Coincidentally, this season is also the optimum time for seed germination in natural fynbos.

(3) The intensity of fire – Fynbos burns more quickly but with less intensity than alien vegetation which plays a major role in increasing the intensity of wildfires.

Climate change and wildfires

Will climate change, largely due to increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, affect wildfires? Some effects of climate change on the risks associated with wildfires are:

  1. Atmospheric instability, and longer windy periods.
  2. Possibly higher rainfall leading to greater biomass growth and hence greater fuel loads.
  3. Proliferation of alien invasive plants
  4. Fires fuelled by the proliferation of alien invasive vegetation, which consists of heavier wood, burn longer and hotter and destroy the seed bank of indigenous plants, ultimately leading to alien invasive vegetation replacing indigenous vegetation altogether
  5. More ignitions are likely through carelessness, accident, and malicious intent.

It is possible that we can expect a longer fire season as a result of climate change. A map showing fire incidents in the Cape Peninsula area in 2003 compared to 2013 revealed a huge increase in wildfires.

Conclusion

Communities need to adopt a holistic approach to wildfire management and take responsibility for it, reducing the fuel load and creating fire breaks to enable fire services to access affected areas rapidly.

We thank Ryan Heydenrych and Dean Harrison of Vulcan Wildfire Management for an excellent presentation.