Firewisesa
Education in Howick

Online resources regarding fire safety and education. FIREWISE - DON'T START FIRES YOU CAN'T STOP.

In 2003, the Forest Fire Association (FFA) (now changed to Kishugu Group) was given the task of establishing a national veld fire (now referred to as wildland fire) awareness campaign. In searching for examples that might be applied in the Southern African context, the FireWise Communities in the USA stood out. In November 2006, Working on Fire (WoF) personnel visited the FireWise Backyards and Beyond Conference in Denver in the United States to start building a formal relationship with FireWise Communities USA and evaluated firsthand whether the American model could be adapted to the Southern African situation. ’ Indeed, it was found that the principles applying to the FireWise design and facilitation in communities at risk are the same, whether the community is poverty stricken and disempowered or extremely well-off and educated. But the FireWise Communities’ model can only work in South Africa if communities are helped, through training and mentoring, to make decisions that are affordable and relevant to their own communities. The benefits of partnerships include the sharing of ideas, expertise and knowledge, and the sharing of responsibilities in fire protection. FireWise USA has shown much support for the use of their model in SA and has assisted by sharing their learning materials and experience. Establishing good fire and land management practices to limit damage to life and property. The FireWise Communities Programme seeks to protect people and property from wildfire risks by encouraging local solutions for wildfire safety and involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, firefighters, and others in this effort. The overall goal is to enhance the sustainability and protection of life, livelihoods and the environment through integrated fire management in order to contribute to economic empowerment, skills development, social equity and accelerated service delivery. The FireWise Communities Programme teaches people how to adapt to living with wildfire and encourages neighbours to work together and take action now to prevent losses. The program wishes to create a paradigm shift from fearing fire to living with fire in a safe way. People joined FireWise because family members had died in fires and they wanted to educate themselves and others about fire. There is a schools fire awareness programme that has also helped the community learn about fire and what to do if a fire breaks out. The FireWise Team tries to make sure that the community is prepared for fire season. Each and every home has no litter or rubbish lying around, they know about fire safety now. FireWise has helped to prevent fires and save lives. There is still the problem of lightning strikes in the area and we don’t know how to prevent people dying because of it. This made them happier because they could buy clothes and send their children to school. People had no gardens before, but now there are vegetable gardens. The vegetables grown are sent to schools and even to town. People have learnt more about the environment and planted small trees to prevent soil erosion. They were even able to sell the wood from the alien trees as firewood. People are too busy working now to take drugs and wine.