#FireSeason 23/24
SUPPORT the #firefighters battling the Overberg Fires
What you need to know this fire season 2023/24:
Landowners in the Overberg have access to operational vehicles and Working on Fire teams during the fire season. Aerial resources will also be based in the Overberg between December and April. They are used in rapid initial attack.
Remember: A responsible person must be present on or nearby your farm throughout the festive season. Ensure your neighbour also knows of your movements. And if a fire starts, contact the fire department immediately.
WELCOME TO THE HOME OF THE
GREATER OVERBERG FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION
registered Fire Protection Association of the Overberg
GO fire prevention
The Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association (goFPA) helps land users predict, prevent, manage and extinguish wildfires. Wildfires move through landscapes – destroying property, livelihoods, biodiversity and sometimes even lives.
01 December 2023
- Bredasdorp 65%
- Caledon 71%
- Gansbaai 55%
- Grabouw 56%
- Hermanus 57%
- Kleinmond 54%
- Swellendam 79%
- Villiersdorp 63%
Wildfires in the Overberg
If any fires flare up in the Overberg, we’ll find out about it soon, and let you know. We constantly update our Facebook page – so check our feed here for the latest fire info. You can let us know if you spot any wildfires – phone us, or message us on social media and we’ll pick up on it.
Fire and invasive plants: A complex connection
The Overberg faces a major challenge this fire season: Invasive alien plants. These plants increase the severity and frequency of wildfires. And they change fire behaviour and alter fire regimes. But there’s a flip side to this relationship between fire and invasive plants – fire can also be used as a tool to manage alien plants.
Here’s what landowners should know about fire and invasive plants, and their complex connection:
“There’s so much knowledge across the landscape on how to fight wildfires. And no one knows the land better than a landowner. So as the goFPA, we work with these existing strengths, to support integrated fire management and coordination.”
Louise Wessels, Manager; Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association
The goFPA helps land users to practice Integrated Fire Management on their land. Through the goFPA, landowners in the Overberg, at the tip of Africa, can now work strategically with partners to better prevent wildfire, and react quicker and more effectively to suppress wildfire.
The goFPA operates across the Overberg area in the Western Cape of South Africa, currently covering more than 660,000 hectares (about 60% of the district).
WHAT WE DO
The Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association actively works to prevent and control wildfires during fire season, over the hot summer months. A lot of our work takes place before the fire season even starts. We help land users in the Overberg to meet their legal requirements. We provide training to land users and their teams and we facilitate fire management planning, like helping with firebreak planning and the signing of agreements between neighbours. All of this forms part of our Integrated Fire Management assistance.
BECOME A goFPA MEMBER
Land users sign up to the goFPA voluntarily. Signing up is easy.
Members pay an annual fee determined by the size of the property which is used to enhance legal compliance and integrated fire management activities.
HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WILL IMPACT
Globally, 2016 was the warmest year on record. That was followed by 2015 and 2017 respectively.
And now 2018 is on course to reach the same levels as the past four years.
Experts believe temperatures may already have passed levels that human civilization has ever experienced before.
The Overberg, the area at the southernmost tip of Africa, won’t escape this trend. On the contrary, our region can expect warmer temperatures, more winter droughts, and more heavy rainfall in April and September.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD
Get our latest news here
Invasive plant clearing & restoration: The teams you can trust
As a landowner, do you want to protect your infrastructure and cultivated lands, mitigate veldfire risks and wildfire spread from your property, and protect and restore the environment? Then we can help. Invasive alien clearing can …
Overberg: How to be wildfire ready come December 2021
Fire season officially starts on 1 December 2021. This is the time when everyone should be hyper vigilant to the dangers of wildfires. According to Louise Wessels, Manager of the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association (goFPA),
SUPPORT #FIREFIGHTERS BATTLING
THE OVERBERG FIRES.
All funds raised will SUPPORT fire-fighters battling the overwhelming Overberg fires. ALL monies raised will be: – used for making the fire lines more bearable, including; – cellphone airtime to talk to their families at home; – foodstuff like ice to keep their drinks cold, that warm meal to supplement their ration packs, and any other essentials. goFPA is a registered PBO.
GIVE
You can get involved by providing goods to energise our fire-fighters. Here’s a list of non-perishable items you can drop off – that help sustain our fire-fighters working hard to protect our homes and nature
DONATE
Donations are made through the secure PayFast system.
SNAPSCAN
reduction | readiness | response | recovery
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FOR MEMBERS
CONNECT WITH US
Follow us on
Twitter @OverbergFPA
Facebook @goFPA
Instagram @OverbergFPA
for fire news & updates
and other Partners