
The 2016/17 End of Fire Season debriefing session hosted by the Overstrand Municipality was recently held at the Pringle Bay Community Hall on Thursday, 11 May 2017.
The event was an opportunity for the relevant emergency services officials involved with various fire-related incidents in the Overstrand area to analyse and discuss their collective experiences over the period. The full-day workshop was well represented by affected personnel of the Overstrand, Overberg and City of Cape Town municipalities, Provincial Traffic and Law Enforcement, as too partners and stakeholders such as Cape Nature, Working on Fire, NCC Environmental Services and the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association.
Challenges that came to light were a lack of resources, suitably trained control room staff, specialised fire engines and apparatus, budgetary constraints, by-law enforcement, instances of poor maintenance by some private land-owners, mismanagement of ritual fires on private land and the need for effective communal radio channels, to name but a few.