Fire in Your Eyes

When I started studying nature conservation never did I think I would be fighting fires, but three years later and it is one of the hot parts of my job ;) 

I attended my first Ecological burn which took place in the week. It was so exciting and scary at the same time. At 06:00 I got to the Reserve where the prescribed burn was to take place,  at 06:30 all the teams were briefed on the procedures and plans for the day and by 07:30 all the teams were positioned at their respective Sectors and the fire was started pass 08:00.

Morning briefing

Now to understand why we had the burn take place, you have to understand the fire regime of the vegetation type we have here in the Western Cape which is Fynbos. Fynbos has to have a fire spread across it, either controlled or wild, depending on what intensity it needs for the seeds to be germinated. So it is quite complex, however in fynbos there is Renosterveld which also needs to be burnt ever few years in order for new species to grow and to give the seeds collected space to germinate and grow in. 

I did not know what to expect, I did not know what was expected of me. I was nervous but so excited and I got to share it with all the other students that were there as well. I was placed in a team, with four guys, Rob, Daniel, Ismail and Masande, which I worked really well with. 

Daniel and myself 

Daniel leaving the vegetation once the fire came to our side

Our role was to watch over the fire and make sure that it stayed under control and that nothing goes wrong. We also wet the fences and the edge of the vegetation so once the fire gets to it it will run out of good enough fuel and will then die out. We waited for all the sections to burn and we were mainly in charge of controlling and putting the fire out once it got to our section of the vegetation.

The Vegetation after the fire

I must say, the intensity of that fire was so hot. When I had the hose and was spraying it into the flames, the heat of the fire was so hot and not something I have ever experienced. I learnt so much at that burn, and I enjoyed it a lot. The fires were ended at 14:00 however there was still flare ups and because of the uncertainty of whether a fire would start up again, there was people monitoring the after effects the entire evening and they had teams in place for everyday up until today positioned at the Reserve. Working on a fire is hard work, but with team effort and great spirit the benefits we get is well worth it :) but that goes for everything else as well.. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it

Xx Bubblesharkgirl

"To forgive does not mean that you condone, agree with, or give your approval to anyone or anything. Rather, it is a powerful acknowledgement to yourself that I am willing to let this go. I am willing to move forward in my life." ~ Raymond David Salas