On Wednesday, 6^th of January a team of specialised wildland firefighters from the Volunteer Wildfire Services Newlands and Jonkershoek Stations were deployed to assist in suppressing the fire that was raging along the residential edge of Kleinmond.

Early on Wednesday afternoon the Volunteer Wildfire Services newly established Jonkershoek Station received a request for assistance from Patrick Shone of CapeNature.  Within two hours a highly skilled and motivated team was assembled and on route to Kleinmond.  Arriving at the Incident Command Post shortly after 17h30, the VWS team, lead by Rob Stamatiadis, VWS Operational Manger and Richard Merrett, VWS Training Director and the team Fire Boss, received a briefing and instructions from Mark Johns, Reserve Manager of the Kogelberg Nature Reserve.

Escorted to the fireline by CapeNature personnel and accompanied by a team of contract firefighters and a Working on Fire crew, the VWS team rapidly organised themselves into two crews and converged on the burning fynbos.  Aerial support by two SA Air Force Oryx helicopters in the form of water bombing was already in full action when the VWS crews hit the fireline.

Working up the right flank of the fire, the fast moving VWS crews were soon extinguishing the flames and securing the fireline with beaters, rake-hoes and slashers – the handtools of the wildland firefighter! The two VWS crews continued to follow the fire up the steep slope, over a narrow saddle and down into the valley where it then turned and burnt up towards some steep rockfaces.  By 21h00 the fire was secured and under control, giving the VWS, WoF and contract crews a chance to regroup and have a well deserved rest and something to eat.   Advising a very relieved and grateful Mark Johns that the area was now secure, Rob Stamatiadis was then asked to continue monitoring the burnt area for possible flare-ups until 21h30, however, shortly after 21h15, as the weather began to turn with clouds and mist rolling in, the permission to stand down was received.  The VWS team began preparation to hike out the valley, up to the ridge for the descent into Kleinmond.

After a slow and rocky hike the VWS team descended the Overberg Mountain and returned to the Incident Command Post by 23h00, which was manned by Overstrand Municipality Fire and Rescue Services.  The exhausted VWS team then gathered for cold refreshments and sandwiches that had been sent along by VWS Jonkershoek Logistics.  After relaxing together and sharing fireline experiences the crews left for Newlands and Jonkershoek, satisfied with a job very well done.

In the past month VWS has assisted CapeNature with suppressing the Bot River fires, firstly on the 31^st December when the fires were in the Groenlandberg area and then again on the 2^nd January.  The Jonkershoek Station had their first firefighting experience at the Rosendal / Helshoogte fires in early December.

Rob Stamatiadis, rightfully proud of his team, felt that the operation was a great success, displaying good cooperation between the different agencies and authorities involved.  He highlighted the fact that all the members of the VWS team are volunteers, everyday people from all walks of life and from all over the Boland and Cape Peninsula including Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Strand, Gordons Bay, Brackenfell and Cape Town.

Comments from Patrick Shone, CapeNature Reserve Manager for Jonkershoek who flew over the fireline during the operation, included great praise for the hard and effective work done by the VWS crews “It was like watching a textbook operation”.  The congratulations were echoed in a call received earlier in the evening from Mark Johns, in which he congratulated the VWS crews and conveyed to them the great relief and appreciation of the residents of Kleinmond who had witnessed the VWS in action.

By Rob Stamatiadis & Hayley Marrison