INTRODUCTION TO FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATIONS (FPAs)
Reasons for FPAs
  • Co-operation among rural owners and managers of land is required for the effective management and prevention of veldfires.
  • Government cannot take on the duties and responsibilities of landowners for fire protection. The Act places this responsibility on landowners.
Advantages of FPAs
  • Promote co-operation in fighting and preventing veldfires.
  • Cost saving by avoiding duplication of services.
  • The fact that FPA rules are enforceable in the FPA area protects members from the actions of non-members.
  • Fire protection officers (FPOs) are empowered to enforce the Act and FPA rules.
  • Advice and assistance to members.
  • Improved communication between members.
  • Improved communication between members and the Minister and other roleplayers.
  • Possible relief from certain prevention measures, for example, the duty to create and maintain firebreaks.
  • Decreased risk of veldfires.
  • Organised groups have better negotiation powers.
  • Possible decreased insurance premiums.
  • Possible assistance from the Minister.
  • No presumption of negligence in civil claims.
Costs in forming an FPA
  • The costs of forming and running an FPA include:
  • Time needed for meetings to set up and run the FPA.
  • Having to report to the Minister on fire statistics and provide information for the fire danger rating system.
  • Possibly having to pay FPO and other officials.
  • Administrative efforts of keeping an FPA running, for example, keeping a register of all members and informing members of the current fire danger rating.
  • Other maintenance costs, for example, costs incurred by the FPO in travelling to inspect members’ land.
Costs versus benefits
  • An FPA should not be formed where its costs will be greater than the benefits it provides to members (FPAs should be cost-beneficial).
  • FPAs should be established in areas where the hazard of veldfires justifies the costs of organising and maintaining the FPA.
  • The justifiable level of hazard must be judged locally.
  • For example: in the Cape Peninsula, the hazards of veldfires on the urban edge are so great that establishing an FPA is cost-beneficial.
When may an FPA be formed?

Section 3 of the Act says any group of owners who wish to co-operate to predict, prevent, manage and extinguish veldfires may form an FPA.

Who is an “owner”?

“Owner” has its common law meaning and includes:

  • any landowner with a title deed to property
  • lessees
  • lessees who lease DWAF commercial plantations
  • a person who rents land from the owner
  • any person controlling land under a contract
  • a lease is a type of contract
  • any person controlling land under a law
  • for example, managers of State forests who control the land under the National Forests Act
  • any person controlling land under a will
  • for example, where someone has the right to control land until she dies, at which point it will go to the heir
  • any person controlling land under an order of the High Court
  • the executive body of a community set up under its constitution, law or custom
  • a Minister or person authorised by him/her where the land is State land and it is not controlled by someone else
  • a member of the executive council or a person authorised by him/her where the land is provincial land and is not controlled by someone else
  • the chief executive officer of any local authority or a person authorised by him/her.
What about communities?
  • Land controlled by a community could be private land (where the community owns it), or State land held in trust.
  • Most land controlled by communities is held in trust by the State or the Ingonyama Trust.
  • The NV&FFA states that where land is controlled by a community, regardless of the ownership of the land, the executive body of that community is the owner.
  • The executive body can exist in terms of:
  • its constitution (where the community has formed a communal property association and owns the land)
  • any law (for example, where a tribal authority was appointed by law) or
  • custom or customary law (where a chief or headman and the tribal elders may control the land)
  • Several different communities might control different portions of a single piece of State land held in trust.
  • Each community should be represented in the FPA by its executive body.
What about State land?

Only where State land is not controlled by:

  • a person contemplated in s2(1)(xiii)(a) (a title deed holder, lessee, or person controlling the land in terms of a contract, will, law or order of the High Court) or
  • a community

will the Minister of the government department or member of the provincial executive council exercising control over the land, or a person authorised by him or her, need to be represented on the FPA.

Membership of FPAs is voluntary for most owners
  • Landowners can choose whether to join the FPA or not.
  • This is because:
  • The right to freedom of association in the Constitution must be upheld.
  • Landowners themselves need to make firm commitments to co-operate through FPAs.
Who is compelled to join an FPA?
  • The owners of:
  • State land
  • municipal land where there is a fire service

must join an FPA if one forms in their area.

  • State land means:
  • national or provincial land
  • land held in trust for communities by the Minister of Land Affairs or the Ingonyama Trust
  • excluding municipal land
Boundaries of FPAs
  • Section 3: The area where an FPA is formed should be relatively uniform in terms of
  • having regular veldfires or
  • its veldfire risk or
  • its climatic conditions or
  • its forest types or other vegetation
  • Form FPAs only where they are definitely needed.
  • The area of an FPA should be optimum, that is, not too big to be able to fulfil duties and not too small to justify the costs involved.
  • The Act leaves this matter open – each case must be judged on its own circumstances.
  • An FPA may usefully correspond with one or more local municipalities (category B).
  • But there may be cases where an FPA would for good reasons include only part of the area of a local municipality.
Prioritisation of FPAs
  • DWAF will establish the framework for priorities in the country, by using a “risk assessment” modelling approach that ranks district municipalities according to the overall fire risk in each district.
  • These will be discussed and finalised with provincial disaster management centres (DMCs) by DWAF.
  • DWAF Fire Advisors will then inform local DMCs.
  • Fire Advisors will establish communication with local initiators of FPAs:
  • district DMCs
  • fire services (chief fire officers (CFOs))
  • emerging umbrella FPAs
  • local leaders
  • nature conservation authorities
  • Fire Advisors will advise initiators on the priorities for their districts and the optimum configuration for FPAs in their districts.
Where no FPA has been formed
  • The Minister may intervene when no FPA has been formed in an area in which s/he is of the opinion one should be formed.
  • Minister may call a meeting to discuss setting up an FPA and to establish what kind of support is required.