THE FIGHT AGAINST FIRE AT STRAWBERRY HILL

THE FIGHT AGAINST FIRE AT STRAWBERRY HILL
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​On Friday afternoon on the 4th of March 2022 at exactly 1800hrs one of our neighbouring farmers spotted smoke coming from Strawberry Hill farm. The fire started on a section below the main road, sandwiched between two pine plantations. Aileen was seeing guests at another part of the farm and had not noticed the smoke below the hill.  On this plot, there is a steep biking trail, next to the famous puff adder alley. The dominant vegetation in this area is grassy vegetation, which is thriving since this site has recently been cleared of invasive species. There was no obvious reason for the start of the fire.
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Upon arrival, we noticed the strength in wind, blowing north westerly towards the pine with houses beyond. The unfortunate part was that, from the previous alien clearing, the biomass was stacked and over time it had lost moisture and had become highly flammable. This posed a great challenge for us, in dealing with the fire spread as many old dry logs caught alight and could jump into the pines. The spread of the fire was faster than predicted, heading up the slope. 

With the proper fire drills, instilled in the team by our fire officer, Twakkie, we were able to quickly respond to the emergency. Regardless of all the challenges, our fire fighting crew brought out their A-game. We also learnt some valuable lessons about improving our response time.

We are so glad to have such a dynamic team, and the support from our neighbours was splendid. The unity during this troubling time was remarkable. With a couple of fire beaters, bakkie sakkie, tractor and constant water supply to the scene, we eventually managed to overpower the fire. There were some stressful moments, but the wind was light and we managed to prevent the spread into the pines. The team worked until very late at night but we managed to get a handle on the fire before leaving the fire at around 1am. However, the landowner never rests during a fire and Aileen was up at 4am to double check any risks that could have sprung up at night.
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On Day two, our task was clear, all the smouldering stumps needed to be dealt with promptly. This is called “the mop up” and it’s the most important part of preventing the fire starting up if the wind gets going again. It took a couple of hours to dampen off, the stumps and constant supervision to ensure stumps were no longer smouldering. We are thankful to our neighbours, who also pitched on day two to assist with damping off the stumps. In the afternoon, the wind sprung up again, but Aileen was watching it and managed to hold off the spread to the pines. By the second evening, everything was calm and the night vigil was not required so we could all get some sleep. 

​The mystery behind what ignited the fire is still unknown. However we are so glad to have defeated the fire without any loss of life or damage to property. Thank you to all the landowners and staff who always come together during a fire to assist.