Fire Management Interventions
Firebreaks
- are a means of access for personnel and equipment during wild fire suppression,
- serve as a control line where a fire can be attacked, for example, by setting a backburn.
Prescribed Burns
- reduce fuel loads
- rejuvenate fire-adapted and fire dependent vegetation
- help in invasive alien plant control
These are burns set by fire managers under controlled conditions. In Cape Town they are generally planned for March and April once the weather is favourable: no or little wind and a good amount of moisture is present.
TMNP also needs to take account the risk of being on the urban edge – if a prescribed burn escapes it can result in expensive damage to properties and infrastructure.
Stack Burning
Alien plant clearing can result in the accumulation of large quantities of fuel in the form of dead brush, usually stacked in heaps. These stacks are burnt under moist conditions usually between June and August.
Alien Plants
There are many alien plants that grow in the TMNP. Aliens burn with more intensity than fynbos because they tend to be woody with high levels of volatile oils. If unplanned fires occur in old stands of alien plants the fire can get so hot it will sterilize the soil resulting in poor fynbos recovery. Alien fueled fires are also difficult to contain.
For this reason, among others, the TMNP runs an intensive alien clearing programme funded by Working for Water.
Causes of Fire
- Human action: Mistakes such as children playing with fire crackers, flares, cigarette butts and airborne coals from braai’s and home fires.
- Paraffin, gas and other spirit fueled cooking equipment.
- Natural processes such as: lightning, iron-rich rocks falling and igniting dry, fine grasses.
- Arson. This is the deliberate lighting of a fire by an individual with the intent of causing damage.