5000 firefighters stationed across South Africa protect lives, property, forests, biodiversity, and commercial, forestry and agriculture from billion-rand losses yearly.
For over two decades, Working on Fire (WOF), the government’s expanded public works programme (EPWP) initiative to battle devastating wildfires, has been at the forefront of using specially trained firefighters and aircraft to protect lives, property, forests and critical ecosystems.
Launched by the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment in September 2003, the initiative combines wildfire management with job creation, recruiting unemployed young people – mostly from marginalised communities – to train as professional veld and forest firefighters.
Since September 2003, Working on Fire employs 5000 youth
The government has previously credited the initiative with creating thousands of employment opportunities while helping protect biodiversity, commercial forestry, agriculture and rural communities from fires that cause billions of rands in economic losses each year.
To date, the programme employs more than 5 000 people organised into over 200 firefighting teams stationed across South Africa, with around 94% of participants being youth and 31% women, and also includes people with disabilities.
Beyond firefighting, recruits receive training in first aid, health and safety, communications, leadership and disaster management equipping many with skills that extend beyond the initiative.
Their work extends far beyond putting out fires.
It implements an integrated fire management strategy that includes fire prevention, prescribed burning, community education, early warning systems, fire awareness campaigns and ecological management aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of uncontrolled veld fires.
Fighting SA’s most destructive wildfire disasters
WOF also supports fire protection associations, municipalities and conservation agencies during high-risk fire seasons.
The programme’s crews have responded to some of SA’s most destructive wildfire disasters.
They have played heroic roles in combating major fires in the Western Cape, including the Knysna and Garden Route wildfires in June 2017, repeated Table Mountain and Cape Peninsula April 2021 blazes, and large-scale 2023 fires in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in 2024 in Limpopo and Eastern Cape.
The Knysna and Garden Route inferno killed seven people, displaced about 10 000 residents, destroyed or damaged more than 900 structures, and burned about 16 000 hectares across the region.
The catastrophe caused billions of rands in losses, with estimates placing total economic damage at between R4 billion and R5 billion, while insured losses were estimated in the region of R2 billion to R4 billion.
Billion-rand losses yearly
During severe fire seasons, aircraft and ground crews are routinely deployed across provincial boundaries to reinforce local firefighting efforts.
The programme has also built an international reputation, with SA firefighters deployed multiple times to Canada since 2015, with four separate deployments between June and August 2023, and in 2024, to assist during record-breaking wildfire seasons.
Since its inception, the programme has evolved into one of the country’s largest wildfire management operations.
Tomi Antes
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