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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, [email protected]

BULAWAY0’s fire brigade has warned against starting bushfires after a Forestry Commission team initiated fire over the weekend went out of control and destroyed vast tracks of land from Four Winds to the Criterion water works.

According to the Bulawayo City Council chief fire officer Mr Mhlangano Moyo, the Forestry Commission started the fire to create a fireguard but the inferno went out of control, leading to residents calling the fire brigade to put it out.

Thatched properties along Circular Drive, Criterion water works pump and the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution and Transmission Company (ZETDC) were saved from the inferno, said Mr Moyo.

“There was a serious veld fire stretching from Four Winds right up to Criterion water works covering the whole of Burnside areas. The Forest Commission team were making a fire guard and it went out of control. We however managed to save some properties. We would like to urge residents and organisations not to start fires without our approval as this is dangerous, it is no longer conducive to start fires these days because temperatures are high. We have what we call controlled burning that the Brigade supervises,” said Mr Moyo.

He said the fire brigade charges a nominal fee for controlled burning during this season but they offer a free service when temperatures are not so high.

“As of now we are no longer burning but in cases where there is extreme danger we do it but with a heavy charge for it,” said Mr Moyo.

Veld fires lead to severe environmental degradation and they reduce land cover thus exposing the land to agents of accelerated soil erosion, changes in the hydrological cycle, increase in overland flow or surface run off and modifications in various ecological processes. Soil erosion leads to the siltation of rivers and dams, thus reducing their water-carrying capacity. This is likely to induce floods in low-lying areas. Veld fires destroy plantations, crops and pastures. In Zimbabwe, it is commonly agreed that veld fires are a single significant threat to national economic recovery plans as they are destroying not only pastures necessary for the restocking exercise but also vast plantations. Food security may be compromised as the last few years have seen fires burning wheat farms, maize fields among other valuables.

According to the Environmental Management Agency (EMA)’s Veld Fire Risk Prediction for 2024, 55.71 percent of the nation is categorized as high risk, while 18.6 percent falls into the medium risk category. Low-risk areas constitute 12.42 percent, and 13.27 percent of the country is identified as being in extreme high risk for veld fires.

However, there was a decrease in areas ravaged by veld fires with a total of 858 361.9 hectares across 3 717 incidents. The average area affected per incident was 230.9 hectares, showing a slight improvement from the 233 hectares per incident recorded in 2022.