After more than a month of being deployed to fight raging wildfires across Canada, the first group of South African firefighters have returned home.
CAPE TOWN – After more than a month being deployed to fight raging wildfires across Canada that are causing widespread destruction, the first group of Working on Fire (WoF) firefighters have returned to South Africa.
Two-hundred firefighters and 14 managers dubbed “Mzanzi 1 Hotshots” landed at the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport on Sunday, where they received a deserved hero’s welcome following their 34-day mission in Alberta, Canada.
Two teams, both consisting of 200 firefighters each, left for Canada following a request from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre in terms of the existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Canada and South Africa.
The latest deployment was the fifth by WoF to Canada. The second WoF contingent “Mzanzi 2 Hotshots” is currently in Canada and is expected to return next week.
Launched in September 2003, the WoF programme forms part of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Firefighters from mostly marginalised communities are trained in fire awareness and education, prevention and fire suppression skills.
Grabouw resident Tebogo Mathews Xina, 34, based at the Hottentots Holland Base, left South Africa on June 3 and was deployed to the Lodgepole fire base near Edson.
“The experience was actually challenging because the Canadians’ working techniques are not the same as how we fight fires here in SA. They are using pulaskis, axes and shovels in their firefighting so there’s a lot of digging, which is also exciting because with the pulaski and axe you cut the roots of the trees so the fire should not creep from one point to the other (underground fires) which is something good to implement in our fire-fighting operations,” said Xina.
The deployment to Canada was the second one for Xina.
WoF provincial communications officer Limakatso Khalianyane said no injuries were reported during the deployment.
Khalianyane said the firefighters would be afforded a well-deserved rest now that they’re home.
Over 5,000 firefighters are part of the WoF programme.
“The team received excellent ratings on their work ethics, physical condition and fitness, mop-up operations, off-the-line conduct, their adherence to safety on and off the fire-line, crew organisation and equipment and their general attitude.”
A special awards ceremony was held for the first contingent of firefighters following their return.
Khayelitsha resident Tumelo Pieter Mokoatsi, 35, working at the Netherlands base, said: “The experience I got there was great from working with various people from Canada, Australia, the US, Brazil and Japan.”
For Mokoatsi it was a second deployment to Canada with the previous in 2016.
WoF said this fire season in Canada had been particularly severe. It said there were 3,375 wildfires this year and 8.5 million hectares of land was ravaged by fire.
