Readiness for Fire Fighting

Every owner on whose land a veldfire may start or burn or from whose land it may spread must:
have such equipment, protective clothing and trained personnel for extinguishing fires as are:
prescribed (in the regulations)
if there are no regulations, reasonably required in the circumstances.
To determine what is reasonable in the circumstances, you will have to behave as the reasonable person would behave.
For example, the reasonable person on the Highveld in summer will not need workers on standby to fight fires.
Readiness requirements should be proportional to the risk that an owner must manage.
The Act also requires that if the owner is absent, s/he must have a responsible person present on or nearby his/her land to:
extinguish a fire if one broke out or assist others to do so
take all reasonable steps to alert the neighbours and the FPA.
The owner may appoint an agent to act on his/her behalf, and to do all that s/he is required to do under section 17.

Standards for training of personnel (1)

To what standard should owners train their workers to prepare them for fire fighting?
DWAF facilitated a process of calling together trainers in veldfire management, other roleplayers and South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) standards-generating bodies of FIETA (Forest Industry Education and Training Authority) and PAETA (Primary Agriculture Education and Training Authority), to determine what standards could be used.
FIETA has generated 18 unit standards for fire fighting. The meetings agreed to use the contents of unit standards 1 and 2 as well as 7 and 8 as the essential minimum.
Standards 1 and 2: basic fire safety in active veldfire suppression and basic fire fighting in active veldfire suppression.
Standards 7 and 8: leading a strike attack force to contain or extinguish a wildfire and managing a crew during suppression.
It was agreed that the 18 unit standards do not have enough content in them about the National Veld and Forest Fire Act, and should be changed accordingly.
Also, unit standards should be generated for training of FPOs and CFOs.
DWAF will play a leading role in ensuring this happens.

Some institutions and trainers have been accredited by SAQA:
Lottenburg Edu Farm (Piet Retief)
SAFCOL Concordia and Platorand
Dale Nortje (Cape Town)
This does not mean that other trainers may not do training. It merely means that DWAF and the agricultural sector is happy to endorse those institutions as trainers of choice.

Occupational Health and Safety Act
Requires employers to meet minimum standards of occupational health and safety, as set out in regulations.
Minimum standards for protective clothing and training for workers must take these standards into account.

This is an agreement between two or more parties to assist each other in the event of a fire breaking out on or threatening any of the parties’ property.
Who may enter into such agreements?
The Minister and any person.
The Minister and any FPA.
Two or more FPAs.
The agreements may provide that payment should be made for assistance provided.
Fire fighting mutual assistance agreements are usually quite detailed:
e.g. they often describe standard operating procedures for both parties.