To combat wildfires, which might pose a risk to their members and communities in the Langkloof and Baviaans, the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association (SCFPA) is in the process of converting an air strip in Misgund into a much-needed aerial firefighting runway.
According to SCFPA manager for the Eastern region, Dirk Smit, the closest operational runway to the Langkloof is in Tsitsikamma and is situated on one of their members’ properties.
Smit said converting the Misgund runway would ensure that the SCFPA extended and improved on the current facilities available to their members and strategic partners, which included organisations managing conservation areas, Local and District Municipal Fire and Rescue Services and Working on Fire.
Furthermore, he said the runway would ensure that their members and strategic partners would be able to dispatch aerial resources more effectively within their area of operation.
“Airstrips or runways like these are used to dispatch firefighting aircraft to wildfires, which includes fixed wing bombers, helicopters and spotters,” said Smit.
He said the ‘spotters’, a type of aircraft necessary for wildfires, could be used to do reconnaissance flights over and around wildfires to determine the extent of the wildfire and to identify whether people’s lives, communities, properties, and structures were threatened by the wildfire.
Smit said the pilot of the spotter also fulfilled a command-and-control function for the aircraft actively fighting the wildfire.
In addition, the spotter provided valuable information to the incident commander (IC) during a wildfire suppression operation.
“The spotter can be used in a preventative role. It can be used to fly over areas which need to be burned by means of executing a controlled burn (prescribed burning), to identify the risk and assist with the planning phase,” said Smit.
He said Wayne Young, from their Uniondale office, was currently assisting groups of landowners within the Langkloof with their burn plans, aimed at reducing alien invasive vegetation growing in their catchment areas.
Smit said these projects were supported by the involved landowners, Living Lands, an organisation which worked at the interface between agriculture and ecology and the SCFPA.
He further said the fixed wing bomber aircraft, which were currently used by Working on Fire, were a very effective firefighting tool, while the Air Tractor 802 aircraft had the capability of dropping 3 000 litres of water on a fire line.
“Ensuring that the runway at Misgund is operational will hugely improve the effectiveness during water bombing operations within the Langkloof and the Baviaans should it be necessary,” said Smit.
In addition to managing wildfires in the Langkloof and the Baviaans, he said the strategically placed runway would also be of huge value to the Local and District Municipal Fire and Rescue Services, which is responsible for fighting wildfires at Avontuur, Haarlem, De Vlugt, Bo-Kouga, De Hoop and Hartebeesrivier.
Smit said landowners also needed to remember that the first obligation to fight wildfires on their property lies with the landowner upon whose property the fire was burning.
He said the airstrip in Misgund was nearly completed and should be operational soon.
“To ensure that the airstrip is ready to be used and that the water supply is effective, we need to test the runway by using at least one or two of the aircraft to take-off and land,” said Smit.
“We have tested the water system, but we need to physically supply water to the Air Tractor 802 fixed wing bomber.”
Role players involved with the conversion of the runway include SCFPA as the facilitator of the project and Misgund Orchards, who made the air strip on their property available for the establishment of the aerial firefighting runway and providing water supply for the fixed bombers.
In addition, Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), together with Kishugu Aviation, supported the initiative and funded the plumbing works and equipment needed to ensure that the runway was operational.
Smit said should landowners within the Langkloof or Baviaans wish to become members of the SCFPA they can visit their website on www.scfpa.co.za.
