By BARBARA HOLLANDS
A Chintsa farmer has equipped himself with fire fighting equipment after he and the surrounding community battled to extinguish fires that raged across four farms last week.
Richard de Beer said farmers and their helpers were “left to their own devices” after a fire that started last Tuesday flared up again last Friday night and blazed through the night.
He said the problem lay with the Chintsa and Komga fire stations, whose fire engines were in for repairs.
De Beer said only one fire truck arrived to fight the second fire on Friday, but it had no water and firefighters had to be supplied with equipment to stamp out the flames because they said theirs was broken.
He said he had arrived home on the afternoon of Tuesday June 28 to find two fire engines fighting a blaze on a neighbouring farm. “They got it under control but then on Friday afternoon the wind picked up and it started again and spread to a second farm.
“A fire truck arrived at 7pm but they said they had no water so we provided them with stampers I had bought. They worked very hard but after they left the fire picked up.”
He said up to 30 members of the community battled the blaze. “We put out what we could but it burnt all night and spread to two more farms – so four farms were affected.”
Staff armed with fire stampers and water from De Beer’s tank stopped the flames at the boundary of his farm.
The fire, which left grazing fields burnt to a crisp, was finally brought under control on Saturday morning.
De Beer said he visited the fire station at Chintsa on Tuesday this week where he was told fire fighting vehicles were in for repairs.
De Beer said he was told the Komga Fire Station also had no vehicles in working order and that if they needed assistance they should call the Kei Mouth Fire Station. “He said one of the Komga vehicles had a puncture and so I offered to send my staff to fix it.
“I have cattle and if we lose our grazing (land) who will take care of us then? Why don’t they sort out their equipment in summer so that it is ready during the winter fire season?”
De Beer said he had no option but to gear himself up to put out fires. “I am organising another pump and pipe with a nozzle so I can get closer to the flames, but fighting fires is dangerous.”
Amathole District Municipality (ADM) spokesman Siyabulela Makunga confirmed that two fire engines responded to a “grass complaint” on Tuesday, June 28. He said one of them had run out of water because it had come directly from another fire.
He said the Chintsa fire truck had been in for repairs and that ADM had no knowledge of a puncture affecting a Komga fire engine. -— barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Farmer forced to turn fire fighter
A Chintsa farmer has equipped himself with fire fighting equipment after he and the surrounding community battled to extinguish fires that raged across four farms last week.
Richard de Beer said farmers and their helpers were “left to their own devices” after a fire that started last Tuesday flared up again last Friday night and blazed through the night.
He said the problem lay with the Chintsa and Komga fire stations, whose fire engines were in for repairs.
De Beer said only one fire truck arrived to fight the second fire on Friday, but it had no water and firefighters had to be supplied with equipment to stamp out the flames because they said theirs was broken.
He said he had arrived home on the afternoon of Tuesday June 28 to find two fire engines fighting a blaze on a neighbouring farm. “They got it under control but then on Friday afternoon the wind picked up and it started again and spread to a second farm.
“A fire truck arrived at 7pm but they said they had no water so we provided them with stampers I had bought. They worked very hard but after they left the fire picked up.”
He said up to 30 members of the community battled the blaze. “We put out what we could but it burnt all night and spread to two more farms – so four farms were affected.”
Staff armed with fire stampers and water from De Beer’s tank stopped the flames at the boundary of his farm.
The fire, which left grazing fields burnt to a crisp, was finally brought under control on Saturday morning.
De Beer said he visited the fire station at Chintsa on Tuesday this week where he was told fire fighting vehicles were in for repairs.
De Beer said he was told the Komga Fire Station also had no vehicles in working order and that if they needed assistance they should call the Kei Mouth Fire Station. “He said one of the Komga vehicles had a puncture and so I offered to send my staff to fix it.
“I have cattle and if we lose our grazing (land) who will take care of us then? Why don’t they sort out their equipment in summer so that it is ready during the winter fire season?”
De Beer said he had no option but to gear himself up to put out fires. “I am organising another pump and pipe with a nozzle so I can get closer to the flames, but fighting fires is dangerous.”
Amathole District Municipality (ADM) spokesman Siyabulela Makunga confirmed that two fire engines responded to a “grass complaint” on Tuesday, June 28. He said one of them had run out of water because it had come directly from another fire.
He said the Chintsa fire truck had been in for repairs and that ADM had no knowledge of a puncture affecting a Komga fire engine. -— barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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