Published in Suidernuus, 15 May 2015:
With the onset of cooler weather a very challenging and tough fire season is slowly drawing to a close. Besides the men and women from the fire services that went to extreme efforts and worked long hours to safeguard lives and property, there were several other organisations that played a pivotal role in the past season.
The first organization is the Greater Overberg FPA. Through their coordination and the direct inputs from their members and landowners the task of the fire services were made a lot easier and enabled us to protect our communities. A major game changer for the fire services was the vehicles made available by the Nuwejaarsrivier Nature Reserve Special Management area.
Two vehicles, a manpower transporter and a fire vehicle are provided to the Overberg District Municipality at a nominal annual rate. These vehicles fill a gap and empower the Overberg District Municipality to render services to landowners in the area by transporting ground teams to the fires and also the fire unit that provides a vital strike capability.