Drakenstein Farm Watch (DFW) alerted firefighters to be on standby when a third farm caught fire within a week.
“For the third time in a week, a fruit farmer on the Sonstraal road in Paarl, had to act swiftly to prevent a big fire to erupt,” the organisation said through Facebook.
“Culprits set the high grass alight for no reason what so ever, just to test the response as it seems.”
A few minutes after the fire was discovered, the DFW fire response team was alerted and launched a 4 × 4 bakkie with a 700-litre unit led by fire brigade commander Jos De Vast. At the discretion of commanding general DFW, a 2,700-litre 4 × 4 fire truck with a water cannon was also launched.
The truck’s water cannon was fired by firefighter François de Manielle, and because the truck can roll while pumping water over flames at great distances and at high volumes, the fire was quickly brought under control.
“To get best results in a field fire, the DFW ads soap liquid to the water, to make the water ‘stick’, to the grass and branches, greatly improving cooling and extinguishing results,” the organisation added.
“It pays off for farmers to be directly connected to the DFW fire group as then direct contact is possible with the fire commanders and this leads to the best accurate deployment and end result.”
The DFW Emergency Control Room can be contacted on 0860 666 662 in the event of a fire or accident.
