GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Garden Route Environmental Forum (Gref) chairperson Cobus Meiring pleaded with Southern Cape residents in a media statement on 4 September to save water in the light of the developing El Niño weather phenomenon.
"Although climate cycles such as La Niña and El Niño are difficult to predict accurately in terms of their impact, it can safely be said that the former is associated with wet seasons and the latter with dry spells with high temperatures, which would indicate that the Southern Cape is due for a dry hot summer, although the climate in the region is still in transition as El Niño has not yet firmed up to full effect," he said.
"What we do know from previous experience in the Southern Cape is that we should rather err on the side of caution and focus on reducing water use, and landowners should do their utmost to ensure that their fire breaks and fire preparedness protocols and measures are in place, knowing that after an extremely wet winter, biomass regrowth will be aggressive and encroach on homesteads and infrastructure."
Meiring says weather patterns have been playing havoc globally in 2023 with extreme temperatures affecting large parts of Europe and America, where record-high temperatures affected many places.
On many occasions it lasted several consecutive days, limiting outdoor activities and placing demands on resources to bring relief.
"In Canada, for example, much like in Tenerife and Greece and elsewhere where thousands had to be evacuated, high temperatures led to completely out-of-control wildfires, and large parts of Alberta are still burning at this moment following the destruction of some 15 million hectares, with several towns being evacuated and infrastructure destroyed."
Meiring refers to Smutsville in Sedgefield where some 40 informal dwellings were recently destroyed in a matter of hours, even with fire services on the scene.
Some 40 homes and structures were recently gutted in Smutsville in Sedgefield during hot and windy conditions.
He says this was a typical example of the increased risk of fire disasters resulting from high temperatures combined with strong wind.
"Hot and dry winds are merciless in the way they dry out vegetation in a very short time and all it requires is a [recklessly caused] spark for a wildfire to erupt and burn out of control within an hour, if not contained at the source as soon as possible."
Firefighters refer to the first hour as the "golden hour". The term stresses the importance of rapid response to wildfire and the urgency to not allow a fire to open up an indefensible fire line as experienced recently in the Free State and the Knysna and Plettenberg Bay fires in 2017.
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