Cape Town Fire/Smoke Alert Thread

Morning all. Yep, I saw the glow last night. The peak being around 24:00 last night. This morning there is a lot of smoke hanging there. On my way to work I saw significant smoke blowing towards Paarl, so somewhere close to Franschoek there is smoke coming off the mountain. I saw yesterday afternoon that the fire reached the top of Jonkershoek again. This means the fire made a full circle.
 
There are some photos on AVCOM of the fire around Grabouw yesterday evening.

NASA modis images from yesterday. The first was taken at 10:50am and shows only 2 small hotspots near Grabouw. The second was taken at 3:15pm. Why where the helicopters not called out when the fire was small?

10:50am
terra_20090302.jpg


3:15pm
aqua_20090302.jpg
 
I know why the heavy weights (MI8, Kamov) don't come out that side, but I will get into trouble if I reveal that info on a public forum.
 
Plenty of smoke again at the foot of Sir Lowry's Pass, but it is all coming over from the Grabouw side so it looks like another day of fires not being put out....one really does wonder just who is benefitting from this policy of ignoring all the normal routes.
 
Maybe guys, incl. you SFX, just need to understand that the fire is HUGE, when you stand at Vergelegen, all you can see is fire... over the mountain, is fire... this thing is HUGE and maybe that's just that... no hidden agendas, it's huge and they struggling to put EVERYTHING on it, there is a whole peninsula to deal with (fires, accidents etc)

I personally think the reason they keeping the helicopters back is incase something happens here in CPT Central as well as the costs to run them.

If you commit everything to 1 area, then when something happens, back here, then it's all a rush rush type thing to get everything back.

I'm thinking here like I would think when playing computer games.
Send some units to deal with something, keep some back for defence.
 
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No need to get upset gdiza. It is huge, it is a problem. The trip to Somerset West is only 7 min by chopper. It is expensive to run, and yes it should have been extinguished ontop of the mountain. It is going to cost a heck of a lot more now to put it out.
 
SFX said:
No need to get upset gdiza. It is huge, it is a problem. The trip to Somerset West is only 7 min by chopper. It is expensive to run, and yes it should have been extinguished ontop of the mountain. It is going to cost a heck of a lot more now to put it out.
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*smacks SFX upside the forehead*

I'm not getting upset... just saying. ;)
 
Last year Sanparks had an Mi-8 and Kamov at Newlands, this year there has only been one - why have Sanparks only got one? (was Mi-8 until last week, Kamov is currently there) During the fires on the peninsula last year, every available helo seemed to be on scene as soon as possible including the air force Oryx's (often 2 or 3 at once)

Possibly the municipalities in the Overberg and Helderberg need to look at hiring some heavies of their own. I am sure the cost's would be far lower than fighting fires for a month. After all Lourensford have already suffered R25m in losses (http://www.capeargus.co.za/?fArticleId=4865034)

I think the Mi-8 and Kamov are approx R30 000 per hour and R350 000 per month in standby costs. Over 6 months they could have had about 650 hours in flying time.
 
The question in my mind is this: What excuse do you use if someones house burns down, or someone dies in this fire? What excuse will make you sleep easy at night? In all my firefighting and ambulance training I have seen and know people whose lost family members to fires, who lost their homes, some of them has only recently finished the last part of their house that was lost in the previous Gordonsbay fire?! Tell me what is exceptable excuses for things like that? Because and I am going to pack it all out now.
 
Why are vineyards more important than people's houses and lives???
Were there firebreaks - adequate ones I mean?
Why was there not much activity when the fire was smaller and easier to extinguish?
What happened yesterday when conditions were pretty near ideal to PUT OUT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE?
Why are there so many excuses?
 
I agree fully with ChrisJ. By the way, to get a heavy airborne in Newlands takes almost 20min from the call to chopper in the air. If the one chopper is needed in CBD area, it only takes the chopper to change direction and fly there which will take one of them 10 - 15min. This is 10min quicker than getting the call and then only taking off. Have a meeting, then I will be back!:D
 
samisty said:
Why are vineyards more important than people's houses and lives???
Were there firebreaks - adequate ones I mean?
Why was there not much activity when the fire was smaller and easier to extinguish?
What happened yesterday when conditions were pretty near ideal to PUT OUT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE?
Why are there so many excuses?
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Fire breaks only seem to work up to a point. On our property in the Drakensberg we have parks board fire breaks that are about 100m wide on the national park side, then 3 of our own, each about 40m wide but they make little or no difference when fires come down from Lesotho.
 
And if there is a hectic wind, fire breaks do nothing, the wind just blows the embers etc long distances from where the fire is... before you know it, the fire is behind you.
 
My suggestion is as such: Get the spotter plane, and let him talk to Incident Command. Put one up close to Tee waterskloof dam. Get choppers, prefferable 4 and get the squirrel. The 4 choppers tackle the head, supported by ground crews, like VWS, or WOF. Use the squirrel to support tenders on the edge of the fire next to roads etc. Get WOF teams from Knysna and Pietermaritzburg. They work hard and is use to mountain fire fighting. Leave Cape Town WOF to cover Table Mountain. Leave tenders as much as possible in the city, but get a small amount, as they are handy when decent accsess roads are available close to houses. Their primary function is to safeguard houses. If there is no decent hydrants, then get a tanker and 1 tender to form a team. It works in Australia. Get bakkie sakkies to support off-road fire fighting. As many as you can find. Support them with 4x4 tankers from parks also as many as you can find. Set up refill points from large dams on top of the mountain with floating pumps and a ground crew to man them, VWS has a few, to minimize delays when refilling with water. Get chainsaw crews to cut down trees in problem areas, maybe 2 or 3 roaming squads with a 4x4. Use porta-pools for crews working on top of the mountain, as in this wind you will not get the fire out with only ground tools, you need water. Get off road rescue to do logistical support as they know these mountains like the back of their hands. Use scouts to survey the movement of the fire and relay this onformation to the IC. They determine what resources gets allocated to what area. Focus first on stopping the fire, then containing the fire and then only mop-up. There will never be enough crews to do all 3 parts similtaneously. Put up a staging area with bunk beds in shelters to give crews chance to rest close to the dam. Have the one chopper move ground crews to the best location. This is what should be done in my opinion, but this does not happen.
 
Yip, too many chiefs, too few indians. How you like my plan?
 
SFX said:
Yip, too many chiefs, too few indians. How you like my plan?
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Agreed, and yeah, I like your plan, but personally, I just want to be told "Go here, do this" and then do it and then "Go there and do that" :D

It's probably why I'll never go for Crew Leader or a driver (even if I'm asked) because I can't sit and watch people work, I want to be in there... sweating, struggling, fighting.
 
Yip, I enjoy tackling the flames. Ordering people around is not my cup of tea. I am a hands on kind a guy!:D
 
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