VKLM FIRE

The portal for public information to residents within the Victor Khanye Municipal area on safety

Legal stuff:

• This Website and all of its sub-pages are an independent run website with the pure intention of providing the community residing within the Victor Khanye Local Municipality information related to fire, life safety, Disaster Management and weather outlooks as well as notifications for adverse conditions that may impact all during a disaster or threatening disaster. In NO CIRCUMSTANCES is this page to be considered as an official page of the Victor Khanye Local Municipailty or representing this organization. To stop any allegations it is hereby registered that this site will remain independant and are 100% funded by the owner thereof.
• The Victor Khanye Local Municipal website can be visited at www.vklm.gov.za
• All weather related data is received or extracted with gratitude from the South African Weather Services (www.weathersa.co.za) with the exception of the UV Index map, which is obtained from SAWX (www.sawx.co.za), temperature graphs are obtained from Accuweather (www.accuweather.com). It may occur that the SAWS site is unavailable at the time of refreshing this page, on which instance the data from Windy (www.windy.com) are used for graphical representation and with comparison to the meteoblue or ECMWF data available from this site.
• Warnings are issued by the South African Weather Services (SAWS) ONLY in the form of emails or message systems and those relevant to the Victor Khanye Municipal area is published under the "Weather Warnings" box on the main page for information and early warning purposes to the community.

By notice from the Webmaster

Fire Prohibitions effective as from Today, 1 June 2021

South Africa have moved back to Adjusted Level 3 as a result from the rapid rise in infections.

Please adhere to COVID-19 regulations and STAY SAFE

February to March

Start looking at your risks in terms of veld fires (remember to have a look at the tall grass on the property)

Start budgetting for equipment that needs repairs or replacements

Start acquiring chemicals for the preparation of fire breaks. REMEMBER Fire breaks are a clear path on the property border to assist in the management of veld fires and does not have to be burned, removing vegitation or ploughing or scraping is also forms of firebreaks.

If you intend to use mutual fire breaks with neighbours, start speaking to them to initiate the agreements.

Are you a member of the Fire Protection Association? - if not or you have not paid your member fees up to date, start planning for this as well. Renewals are payable as from 1 April.

April to June

Prepare chemical traces.

Update contact details of all neighbours.

Check that water points have adequate supplies.

Check that your fire fighting equipment are in working conditions / serviced.

TAKE NOTE: Grassfires will already be a risk from Mid to end April...

Check if all tools conform to FPA standards.

Train your employees in fire management.

Do your fire crew members have appropriate protective clothing?

Implement action plan for firebreak preparation.

Do you understand the obligation of your insurance warranties?

Do you understand the legal implications concerning your liabilities?

Did you renew your FPA membership for the year?

Is all thatch roof structures treated, or cleared around it, or do you have

measures in place to protect it from accidental/incidental ignition timeously?

Slash burning allowed if weather permits - get burning permit from FPA.

JULY

Start wrapping up on controlled burning operations by at least the 25^th

No burning operations from 31 July to End of August

Have all resources at the ready and act immediately when a fire is discovered

FDI is expected to increase to orange more frequently through the month.

AUGUST

All Fire Breaks and Burning operations must be completed by now.

Be vigilant and act quickly upon discovery of grass fires, remember, the windy conditions may cause runaway grassfires if not contained early.

The FDI will remain orange more frequently through most of the month with some red days expected as well.

SEPTEMBER

The windy season is mostly past, but there will be days/periods with strong winds to be expected. With little to no rain anticipated, the possibility of grassfires are still very high. The high daytime heat and dry grass have a risk of runaway grassfires if not managed quickly.

Be vigilant as conditions are very dangerous and grassfires can very easily turn into life threatening conditions.

Act quickly to put out fires to prevent it from increasing in severity. Keep fire fighting equipment at the ready.

OCTOBER

Rain is expected from about the second week. Grassfires will be more manageable thereafter, but conditions may still be risky.

Planting season will commence. Start preparations to service fire fighting equipment and get them repaired where necassary from now until December.

Land owners who have FPA skid units can start returning the units to the Fire Station for service and repairs. Owners have until the end of November to return the units.

Below are a list of activities that needs to, or already had to be concluded to assist in prevention of unnessasary fire outbreak or spread of fires.

South African Fire Danger Index reference;

ACTIVITIES TO BE DONE IN PREPARATION FOR

GRASSFIRE SEASON