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MARCH 2020 Fighting Wildfires • Australia • United States • South Africa Insurer Guide: Passive fire-protection systems • Restoring Notre Dame Cathedral • Protecting our mining assets • New fire exhibition launched • Advances in automated firefighting
CONTENTS
2 TRAINING FPASA fire-training courses for 2020
4 VIEW The Editor’s view on industry topics and the contents
of this issue
6 WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20 The 2019–20 Australian
wildfire season has been described as cataclysmic and
unprecedented
16 WILDFIRES: INDIGENOUS FIRE MANAGEMENT The future of Vol 46 No 1 • March 2020
bushfire management lies in embracing Indigenous expertise ISSN 0259 - 1766
18 WILDFIRES: S.A. FILM DOCUMENTARY New educational
documentary highlights the complexity of wildfires in the
Western Cape
20 WILFIRES: PRESCRIBED BURNS The tactic of prescribed
burns encounters ongoing hurdles in America’s West
23 WILDFIRES: INVESTIGATION Startling negligence by a utility
company caused a devastating wildfire
26 INSURER PROPERTY PROTECTION GUIDE Acceptability of
BUILT TO
passive fire-protection systems in the South African
environment
COVER: To tie in with our special Wildfires
30 FIRE EXHIBITIONS Securex 2020 is all fired up with the feature, the stunning cover photo is by
MEET THE
introduction of the new Firexpo exhibition Justin Sullivan of Cape Town-based Sullivan
Photography, which has produced ‘Walking
32 LIBRARY Summaries of fire-related articles available from With Fire: A Wildfire Documentary’ for the
the FPASA Library Western Cape Government Provincial
NEEDS OF ALL
Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue
35 REMOTE-CONTROLLED MONITORS An analysis of remote- Services. Read more about the
controlled monitors for fixed firefighting systems documentary on pg 18
COMMUNITIES
40 COMMERCE Passive fire protection through fire
compartments in construction and maintenance
42 COMMERCE A new range of smoke detectors for the South
African market
44 PROTECTING MINING ASSETS Fire-protection systems are
STORAGE TANKS AND WATER SOLUTIONS essential for high-value mining industry assets Australia’s Black summer
®
SBS Tanks , a proudly South African company based in Pinetown, Kwazulu Natal, specialises in liquid storage solutions 47 FDIA MEMBERSHIP LISTING Cataclysmic and unprecedented wildfires
within the South African market servicing a multitude of industry sectors including Mining, Fire Protection, Municipal, See page 6
Water Conservation, Food and Beverage, and Agriculture.
The SBS Tanks® range has been designed, developed and engineered with expertise gained from over 20 years of Publisher Design and Production Advertising executive
Fire Protection Association of De Roche Repro Barbara Spence
experience within the international water storage industry. SBS Tanks® offers a broad product range of liquid storage Southern Africa Avenue Advertising
Printing
tanks for multiple applications, from 12 kilolitres in capacity to the largest single storage solution of it’s kind, the Incorporated Association not for gain
Law Print P O Box 71308
Reg. No. 1973/000022/08 Bryanston 2021 South Africa
impressive 3,3 megalitre capacity water storage tank. Manufactured from pre-fabricated Zincalume® steel panels, and Publisher’s Address: Tel: (011) 463-7940
Editor
ƼWWHGZLWKDQDSSURYHGOLQHU6%67DQNV® are highly resistant to corrosion and proven to be an effective and reliable Mike Simpson PO Box 15467 Impala Park 1472 barbara@avenue.co.za
product offering. mike@media-simpson.com Springbok Road Bartlett Boksburg www.avenue.co.za
Telephone: (011) 397-1618
As a company, SBS Tanks® operates on a shared set of corporate values and principles, with customer focus and ongoing FPASA Consultant Satellite Tel: (011) 552-6908/9 Fire Protection is a membership magazine
Renay Sewpersad Telefax (011) 397-1160 published quarterly by the FPASA.
investment in research and development being key elements. We as a corporate entity believe that, not only is it possible or (086) 647-1633
to achieve our objectives through positive business practice, but we can equally take positive steps toward framing our library@fpasa.co.za The views expressed in articles by outside contributors are
future simultaneously. www.fpasa.co.za not necessarily those of the FPASA.
Permission must be obtained from the FPASA before
AUDIT BUREAU material in this journal is reprinted or broadcast and
LEVEL
B-BBEE acknowledgement must be given.
OF CIRCULATIONS
Call +27(0)86 048 2657 or visit www.sbstanks.co.za for more information. Fire Protection • March 2020 1
TRAINING
Fire protection training
courses for 2020
he following are details of the Government SETA (LGSETA) or CFPA FPASA members and stakeholders
T FPASA’s comprehensive range of
Fire Protection courses on offer for
the remainder of 2020.
Europe. Training takes place at the
FPASA facility near OR Tambo
International Airport in Boksburg, or
qualify for discounts of 5-30%.
For more information, contact Renay on
011 397 1618. Or email her:
All courses are accredited by an arrangements can be made for on-site renay@fpasa.co.za
appropriate body – such as the Local training at the client’s premises.
Course dates and details as follows:
TITLE APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC
1 Basic Fire-Fighting Module 07 16 03 05
2 Fire-Fighting & Evacuation 06 10 15 05 02 07 04 02
3 Workplace Fire-Fighting, &Evacuation 20-23 29- 02 24-27 26-29 30- 03
Breathing Apparatus Optional add-on or
}
Grass Fire-Fighting standalone course
4 Fire Risk Assessment & Prevention 11-15 06-10 14-18 19-23 07-11
Strategies
5 Advanced Fire Prevention 20-24 28- 02
& 27-31 & 05-09
6 Fire Appliance Reconditioning 20-24 18-22 22-26 06-10 03-07 07-11 12-16 09-13 07-11
7 Plan Appraisal: A detailed analysis of 08-12 07-11
SANS 10400 - Parts A, T & W
8 CFPA Principles in Fire Safety 23-27
Engineering
9 Fundamentals of Fire Investigation 25-29 20-24 12-26
10 Advanced Fire Investigation 16-19
Techniques
11 Sprinkler Pumps: Inspection and 13-15 02-04
Testing
12 Bylaws 22-25 09-12
13 CFPA Europe Fire Safety Diploma - 09 03
Technical Cycle Exam (Diploma)
14 Insurer Fire Impact Reduction 03
Strategy (InFIRes) Seminar
NOTE: 1. Courses can be arranged on-site on request - subject to a minimum number of delegates and suitable facilities.
2. The Association reserves the right to postpone or cancel a course.
3. These dates may be subject to change without notice. The amended course dates will be available on our website www.fpasa.co.za.
Diplomas on offer: Europe Fire Safety – Technical Cycle & Management Cycle
Bookings: Library:
college@fpasa.co.za or library@fpasa.co.za
support@fpasa.co.za or
marketing@fpasa.co.za Membership/Publication
011 397 1618/19 Enquiries:
reception@fpasa.co.za
Technical Enquiries:
compliance@fpasa.co.za Finance:
accounts@fpasa.co.za
2 Fire Protection • March 2020
EDITOR’S VIEW
Focusing on wildfire
challenges from
When safety and
around the world quality matter
elcome to the first 2020 issue climate has warmed just over 1°C since Services which is attracting positive most, trust the
W of Fire Protection, your
quarterly magazine for fire
industry professionals in Southern
1910, leading to an increase in the
frequency of extreme heat events”.
So a rise of only 1°C was a key,
reviews (see our article on pg 18).
Moving away from Wildfires, don’t
miss another in our series of Insurer BSI Kitemark TM
Africa. although certainly not only, contributor Property Protection Guides. Our article
In South Africa we know a thing or to the wildfire carnage that devastated on page 26 deals with Acceptability of
two about wildfires. They are, and Australian over the period now known Passive Fire-Protection Systems.
always have been, a part of the local as Black Summer (see our extensive As always, Fire Protection features
landscape. coverage from pg 6). It is indeed a many though-provoking and hopefully
They occur as a natural frightening thought for the fire industry useful articles. Please enjoy your latest
phenomenon in grasslands, woodlands, in South Africa! read, courtesy of the FPASA.
fynbos, and sometimes in indigenous Speaking of frightening, I was
forests. Often our wildfires are started certainly alarmed to read of the
Mike Simpson
by lightning or, in mountainous regions, experiences of one senior Australian
by falling rocks. Many are started by firefighter, who told of raging fires so Editor
accident by people being careless with huge that they created their own
open flames and indifferent to the
consequences of their carelessness.
weather as they moved across the
landscape, defying attempts to use
The world’s leading standards,
traditional weather forecasting methods
According to Working on Fire,
climate change is expected to increase to predict what the fires would do next. testing and certification organization.
temperatures over parts of the interior
of South Africa by as much as 3-5 Prescribed burns face • Fire System Installation and Maintenance (SANS 10139 / SANS 14520)
degrees C by the end of the century. problems in the United States
Longer dry spells may also occur more
• Portable Fire Equipment (SANS 1910 / SANS 1567)
Continuing our Wildfires theme in this
frequently during all seasons. Rising issue, we’ve also examined the • Alarm Systems (EN 54)
temperatures and increased drought experience in the Western part of the SA’s premier magazine • Fire Suppression (EN 15004)
frequencies combine to exacerbate the
incidence of fire risk.
United States (see pg 20), where public for • Fire Equipment Maintenance (SANS 1475)
opposition to the tactic of prescribed
burns has played a part in several large Fire Professionals • Emergency Lighting
Average temperature rise of fires there in recent times. Contact us:
only just over 1°C was critical Editorial contributions
• Hose reels (SANS 543) bsi.za@bsigroup.com
Then we move back home to find
By as much as 3-5-degrees C! It’s a out about a wildfire documentary are welcome bsigroup.com/en-ZA
worrying scenario when you consider commissioned by Western Cape
Send submissions to the
New Schemes +27 (0) 12 004 0279
that the Australian Bureau of Government Provincial Disaster
editor Mike Simpson • Service and maintenance of Wet- and Dry Risers
Meteorology said in its State of the Management and Fire and Rescue
E-mail: mike@media-simpson.com
Climate 2018 report: “Australia's • Kitchen Fire Protection Scheme
4 Fire Protection • March 2020
WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20
of going to Europe and burning every single square kilometre
The catastrophic C ataclysmic; unimaginable; unprecedented; like an
atom bomb. These are just some of the ways that
the 2019–20 Australian wildfire season, now known
of land in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Slovakia
and Luxumbourg – with a bit to spare. Smoke from the fires
was detected 11 000km away in South America. According
to NASA, an estimated that 306-million tonnes of carbon
reality of Australia’s
colloquially as “Black Summer”, have been described. dioxide were emitted into the atmosphere.
The startling figures bear this out. As of 9 March 2020 Around 3 700 Australian firefighters, most of them
the fires had burnt an estimated 186 000 square kilometres volunteers, were involved in fighting the fires. The Australian
(18.6 million hectares), destroyed more than 5 900 buildings military provides a further 3 000 personnel and
approximately 300 firefighters came from other countries to
Black Summer fires
(including 2 779 homes), killed 34 people including several
firefighters, and exterminated an estimated 1-billion animals. assist. Up to 500 aircraft and helicopters were involved. One
air tanker and two helicopters crashed.
To put the fire size into perspective, that’s the equivalent
6 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 7
WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20
Overview of the causes of the 2019-20 attributed to record-breaking temperatures and drought, around 1% of NSW fires and 0.3% of Victorian fires by late recorded droughts occurred during the 21st century, the
Black Summer wildfires accompanied by severe fire weather, are the primary causes January 2020. Police in the state of Queensland said only Australian Bureau of Meteorology said.
of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season. These causes are 114 out of 1 068 fires were found to be deliberately or Specific cause: Climate change
An official Senate Enquiry by the Federal government is still
likely to have been exacerbated by long-term trends of maliciously lit.
collecting submissions until early April 2020 and will only Climate and fire experts agree that climate change is a
warmer and dryer weather observed over the Australian land Specific cause: Drought and temperature
make known its findings in late 2021. There will also be factor known to result in increased fire frequency and
mass.
independent enquiries by the states of Victoria and New According to Farm Online and the Sydney Morning Herald, a intensity in south-east Australia, and although it should not
The political nature of the crisis and its associated issues likely contributor to the bushfire crisis was the ongoing be considered as the sole cause of 2019-20 Australian fires,
South Wales, where the majority of the wildfires occurred.
has also resulted in the circulation of large amounts of drought in eastern Australia – the most severe on record for climate change is considered very likely to have contributed
However, there is already a large body of public evidence as
to the likely causes. some fire-hit areas. Exacerbating the effects of diminished to the unprecedented extent and severity of the fires, said
rainfall in this drought was a record-breaking run of above- the BBC and Guardian Australia in separate reports.
average monthly temperatures, lasting 36 months to The crisis has led to calls for more action to combat
October 2019. climate change. In December 2019, Australia had been
The combination of heat and drought caused critical ranked worst in terms of policy, and sixth worst overall, out
low-fuel moisture content, with Victoria Country Fire of 57 countries assessed on the Climate Change
Authority response controller Gavin Freeman telling the Performance Index, with the Morrison government labelled
Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the underlying an increasingly regressive force, Guardian Australia reported.
dryness of the bush had led to exceptionally high fire danger. Originally downplaying the role of climate change in
Although Australia has naturally experienced high rainfall causing the fires, the Bloomberg news agency said Prime
variability and hot summers for millennia, the country has Minister Scott Morrison eventually conceded that climate
recorded an increase of nearly 1.0°C in average annual change was one of many factors involved and added that
temperatures since 1910, decreases in average rainfall in Australia was “playing its part” in the international effort
south-eastern Australia since 1990, and the country's worst against climate change.
Towering inferno. Smoke and flames approach a town in rural Australia
According to Australian Geographic magazine, Australia is disinformation regarding the causes of the fire activity. This
one of the most fire-prone countries on earth, and bushfires unfortunately contributed to the neglect of credible
form part of the natural cycle of its landscapes. However, scientific research, expert opinion and the results of previous
factors such as climate trends, weather patterns and government inquiries into the country’s numerous major
vegetation management by humans can all contribute to wildfires.
the intensity of bushfire seasons. The most destructive fires Specific cause: Ignition
in Australian history have usually been preceded by The major cause of ignition during the 2019-20 fire season
extremely high temperatures, low relative humidity and in the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria was
strong winds, which combine to create ideal conditions for lightning strikes, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
the rapid spread of fire. said. It reported that arson, which at the time was popularly
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Guardian believed to be a key factor, was actually of little impact.
Australia report that scientific experts and land management While there were certainly arson incidents and a number
agencies agree that severely below-average fuel moisture of people were charged, arson had accounted for only Soldiers help to evacuate people to a safer area on the other side of a river (Photo credit: Australian Department of Defence)
8 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 9
WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20
Specific cause: Lack of prescribed burning? little to stop bushfires and save property in south-eastern
Conservative politicians and media primarily blamed a lack Australia, with climate and weather conditions having
of prescribed burning and fire break management, although primary influence.
such assertions have subsequently been heavily criticised According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the effect of
and disproven by scientific experts, said the Canberra Times previous prescribed burns in slowing the 2019-20 Australian
and Guardian Australia. fires and assisting fire suppression efforts remains unclear,
Accompanying this was the assertion that environmental although in many instances the fires were observed to burn
groups were responsible for the crisis by inhibiting prescribed through cleared agricultural land and forest recently affected
burning, despite environmental groups holding relatively by unplanned and prescribed burns, owing to the extreme
negligible political power compared to the main political weather conditions and dryness of vegetation. Of particular
parties. Furthermore, the amount of prescribed burning in note, the damaging Currowan fire burnt though a large area
PHOTO CREDIT: DEPARTMENT OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES
Volunteer firefighters mop up one of the thousands of blazes
south-eastern Australia has been stated to have increased in of Morton National Park, which in 2017 was subjected to
recent years, following the recommendation for increased one of the largest prescribed burns ever successfully
prescribed burning from the 2009 Black Saturday Fires Royal conducted in NSW.
Commission, reported Guardian Australia. Specific cause: Prevention of hazard reduction?
Experts suggested that prescribed burning has been more Throughout the Black Summer fire season there was public
difficult to achieve given recent trends towards warmer and speculation that hazard-reduction strategies on public land
dryer conditions, said the Canberra Times. Experts have also and in national parks had been blocked by activists from the
cast doubt on the effectiveness of fuel-reduction treatments, Greens movement.
citing research which suggests that prescribed burning does
However, the Guardian Australia newspaper disputed this,
Fire Protection • March 2020 11
WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20 WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20
saying: "Despite the [contrary] evidence, a claim persists that Dickman's calculation had been based on highly
a major contributing factor [to] Australia’s devastating fire
season ... is not climate change but a conspiracy by
environmentalists to 'lock up' national parks and prevent
hazard-reduction activities such as prescribed burning and
conservative estimates and the actual mortality would
therefore be higher. The figure provided by Dickman included
mammals (excluding bats), birds, and reptiles; and did not
include frogs, insects, or other invertebrates. Other
Wildfires ‘created
their own weather’
clearing of the forest floor”. estimates, which include animals like bats, amphibians and
invertebrates, also put the number killed at over a billion, the
Devastating Ecological effects Huffington Post reported.
Prof. Chris Dickman, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Ecologists feared some endangered species were driven
Science from the University of Sydney, estimated on to extinction by the fires, said The Washington Post. Though
bushfires are not uncommon in Australia, they are usually of cientific modelling used by height of the fires that some Fires do what they want
S
8 January 2020 that more than one-billion animals were
killed by bushfires in Australia; while more than 800-million a lower scale and intensity that only affect small parts of the firefighters to predict how communities had fires approaching
Gillham said as the fires built they
animals perished in New South Wales. overall distribution of where species live. Animals that wildfires behave was ineffective from almost all directions.“Everybody's
created their own weather, so data
survived a bushfire could still find suitable habitats in the because the fires were so big that they saying the same thing; and that is that
The estimate was based on a 2007 World Wide Fund for from the weather bureau became less
immediate vicinity, which was not the case when an entire created their own weather patterns, an a lot of the scientific modelling that we
Nature (WWF) report on impacts of land clearing on relevant. “We know roughly what's
distribution is decimated in an intense event. incident controller told the Australian use to try and predict where fire might
Australian wildlife in New South Wales that provided happening, but the fires are basically
Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). run is not coping with what's
estimates of mammal, bird and reptile population density in doing what they want in the
Andy Gillham, from the Bairnsdale happening in the landscape, just purely
the region. landscape,” he said.
incident control team in Gippsland, because of the fire load,” he told ABC
Gippsland. Gillham added that the
Victoria, said in an interview at the
PHOTO CREDIT: EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
A European Space Agency satellite image captures smoke and flames from multiple fires in New South Wales
Research Sources:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Guardian Australia newspaper
Australian Bureau of Meteorology Huffington Post newspaper
Australian Geographic magazine NASA
Canberra Times newspaper Sydney Morning Herald newspaper
CNBC broadcasting The Washington Post newspaper
Farm Online website Wikepedia Some of the fires were so big that they created their own weather patterns
12 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 13
WILDFIRES: AUSTRALIA 2019-20
unpredictable nature of the fires, and spark new fires, conjure fire tornadoes “They are a combination of a
the fact that some communities could and make fighting existing fires much regular thunderstorm that everybody is
see fires approach from multiple more challenging. very familiar with, but with the
directions, meant staying to defend explosive heat source from the fire
properties was only an option for the Smoke-infused which actually makes them very
few extremely well-prepared people thunderstorms peculiar,” Fromm said.
who were experienced and understood These storms are capable of
CNBC said the rising heat from the
fire. producing cyclone-like winds, one of
intense fires generated massive,
But even then, he urged them to powerful clouds called which lifted up a 10-tonne fire engine
think twice. “We want to reinforce that pyrocumulonimbus, which produced operated by the New South Wales Rural
message; just leave. There's no sugar- smoke-infused thunderstorms. Fire Service and flipped it onto its roof,
coating on this; there is no safe place, trapping the crew inside. One volunteer
Mike Fromm, a meteorologist at the
[just] safer places.” firefighter died as a result.
US Naval Research Laboratory who has
Meanwhile, broadcaster CNBC researched these clouds extensively,
reported that the fires created violent told the broadcaster that he likened the
weather systems that were able to process to a volcanic eruption.
Insurance industry hit is
smaller than expected
Although the Australia wildfires burned “These bushfires are significant in there is the possibility that the
across an extremely large area, their terms of duration and geographic reinsurance impact will not be as
reinsurance impact is proving to not be breadth of burnt area,” Aon said in a significant as [in] some previous
as significant as some previous fires, statement. “Definitions applied to events.”
according to major insurance company bushfire events in reinsurance contracts The main reason that insurers
Aon. limit recoverable damage either by time expect to pay less is that 90% of
The impact on the built (i.e. a maximum duration) or damage was in national parks. Only 8%
environment has been significantly less geographical extent (i.e. distance or of damage was in what is classified as
than what might have been expected. territorial boundary). The nature of the urban areas, while 2% occurred in what
This is because the fires burned through current losses from the bushfires means is classified as residential areas.
large remote areas, with the majority of
impacted towns having populations of
less than 10 000 inhabitants, the Aon
analysis found.
More than 23 000 bushfire-related
insurance claims were lodged across the
states of New South Wales,
Queensland, South Australia and
Victoria between November 2019 and
February 2020, with an estimated value
of 1.9-billion Australian dollars. The
biggest insurance claim from a wildfire
is 2.16-billion Australian dollars for the
so-called Black Tuesday fires in the
state of Tasmania. Insurance claims are lower than anticipates as most blazes occurred in national parks
14 Fire Protection • March 2020
WILDFIRES: INDIGENOUS FIRE-MANAGEMENT
Aboriginal cultural burning near Parnngurr in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia An Aboriginal man sets a fire at Fish River in Australia’s Northern Territory (Photo credit: Nature Australia)
originating in human activity) climate change is impacting “In recent years, there’s been renewed interest in
The future of bushfire the frequency and intensity of the fires on this continent,
changing the weather and the vegetation we can expect in a
location, and often increasing the fire risks.”
The key message from recent social science research into
Aboriginal peoples’ fire practices and knowledge, thanks in
part to books such as Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu; however, it
is interesting to note that non-Indigenous scientists have
been influenced by these ideas for some time.”
management is to bushfire is, given that we cannot completely control fire and
there are no absolute fixes, there is a need to create a better
and more honest relationship of coexistence with traditional
landowners, he believes.
Neale notes that if we look at early ideas of fuel
reduction burning, developed at the CSIRO (Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in the 1960s
and 1970s, they were drawing on ethnographic and
fully embrace “Agencies and communities are already doing a lot in
this direction, seeking to know more about the positive and
negative outcomes of fires in the environment and to
understand the risks different communities face. However,
archaeological evidence about how, when and why
Indigenous Australians used fire in the landscape.
Regrettably, that influence was not matched with any real
engagement with contemporary Aboriginal peoples.
Indigenous expertise there is much more to do, including engaging much more
extensively with Aboriginal peoples,” Neale says.
The many benefits of engaging with
Knowledge sharing is sometimes
negative and exploitative
“That said, the mistake that many government and other
Indigenous Australians agencies can make, in Australia and overseas, is that they can
ustralia’s recent out-of-control wildfire season that, for millennia, have regularly experienced bushfires. This “A major aspect of my research is looking at the [numerous] be too focused on what Aboriginal peoples might have to
A seems to have shown us that modern science and means that many things people care about – like houses, benefits from engaging with Traditional Owners and tell non-Indigenous peoples. We have to understand that, in
technology is unable to successfully predict or cope towns, humans, pets and farm animals – are put at risk. Indigenous Australians about bushfire management. Many Australia and elsewhere, many Indigenous peoples’ past and
with everything that nature can throw at us. Indigenous Australians have immense pride in their long present experiences of sharing their knowledge have
Human and ecological timescales are history of skilful fire use, and we have solid evidence about frequently been negative and exploitative. It’s pretty galling,
Given that we cannot completely control fire and there
if you think about it, to follow up centuries of dispossession
are no absolute fixes, we need to create a better and more vastly different the clear ecological, economic, social and health benefits to
being engaged in caring for [the countryside]”. by asking for more,” he explains.
honest relationship of coexistence with the traditional One of the key difficulties, he points out, is that human and
owners of the land, says Dr Timothy Neale of the According to Neale, most early European settlers in “There are better alternatives, and one has to think in
ecological timescales are very different. “Someone can live in
Cooperative Research Centre, an Australian government- Australia saw Aboriginal peoples’ fire practices as an terms of respectful partnership. As Indigenous scholars and
a landscape for years and never experience a significant
funded scientific research programme. annoyance or a threat. Only a few settlers, often farmers, activists have been saying for a long time, non-Indigenous
bushfire, and therefore reasonably not think of it as a high-
saw the positive effects these practices could have on peoples have to give up some of their power and control if
In an article for Fire Australia magazine, Neale notes that risk area. But that landscape’s rhythm is actually ticking
promoting regrowth and reducing the fuel available for they want to work together. We have to start from the
since the end of the Second World War in 1945, Australians away on a timescale of decades or centuries, preparing itself
future fires. Even fewer respected the importance of premise of Aboriginal peoples’ rights, as the First Peoples of
have increasingly aspired not only to own their own homes, for a major fire.”
Aboriginal’ fire practices in hunting, ceremony and this place, to speak authoritatively about Country. They must
but to own homes close to coastlines and forests – close to He adds: “In addition to these mismatched timescales,
communication. be supported to use their own knowledge and be treated as
nature. Unfortunately, these same landscapes are places anthropogenic (environmental pollution and pollutants leaders in the management of their Country.”
16 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 17BUSHFIRES: S.A. FILM DOCUMENTARY
Sullivan believes that fire is everyone’s fight and, and learning from!” Good Things Guy called it “incredible”.
New educational film therefore, South Africans should be doing everything in their
power to prevent bushfires. They should also assist the men
and women who fight bushfires and to come forward to
‘Walking With Fire: A Wildfire Documentary’can be viewed
on YouTube, the Good Things Guy website, The South African
news website, or the SullivanPhotographyZA Facebook page.
documentary highlights the report anyone who is responsible for them.
The organisation Garden Route Fire Watch called the film
an “absolutely awesome documentary! Well worth watching
All photographs by Sullivan Photography
complexities of bushfires in
the Western Cape
South African documentary film about bushfires in the Photography, which produced the documentary, it only
A Western Cape is receiving positive reviews following its
release in late 2019 by the Western Cape Government
Provincial Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue
scratches the surface of the complexities associated with
bushfires in the province. The content includes interviews
with firefighters and examines how many of these wildfires
Services. start. Some start naturally, but most are a result of human
The 33-minute film is entitled ‘Walking With Fire: A activity.
Wildfire Documentary’. It is an educational video aimed at Sullivan and his small team spent four years putting the
creating awareness and educating the public on the dangers documentary together.
of wildfires, and was born out of a larger dream to conserve “This has been one hell of a journey and at times I
environments globally from frequent and destructive thought it wasn’t going to happen… Through all the sweat
wildfires. and tears (there were definitely tears), the countless camera
According to Justin Sullivan of Cape Town-based Sullivan errors, close calls, [a] vehicle catching alight and [the]
absolute amateur approach at the start, it’s finally out there.
It’s not the original film I wanted, but it evolved into
Need a workplace
hopefully a beneficial educational video that will contribute
in its own way,” he told the Good Things Guy website.
fire risk assessment?
We can help
The Association offers an array
of fire risk management,
consulting and engineering
services, including legal
compliance reviews, fire
safety audits,
investigations and
evacuation
procedures and plans
FIRE PROTEC TION A S SOCIATION OF SOUTHERN AFRIC A
Incorporated Association not for Gain. Reg No 1973/000022/08 VAT Registration No.: 4110103100
Tel: (011) 397-1618, Satellite Tel: (011) 552-6908/9, Fax: (011) 397-1160, www.fpasa.co.za
18 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 19WILDFIRES: PRESCRIBED BURNS
and public opposition,” Associated Press “Overcoming public fears by because of hot, dry conditions. Relaxing
reported. teaching about good smoke, bad smoke, environmental restrictions has cleared
After a 2018 wildfire largely levelled out-of-control fire and prescribed fire is the way for more prescribed fires in
the city of Paradise and killed 86 just one hurdle before firefighters can some cases,” Associated Press reported.
people, the state of California put match to kindling,” Mohler told the
prioritised 35 brush and other news agency. “It's the difference New laws help fast-track
vegetation-reduction projects that between fire under our terms and the burn process
could all involve some use of fighting fire on Mother Nature's terms.”
The state of Oregon recently changed
intentional fire, said Mike Mohler, It can take years to plan and clear air quality rules for planned fires to
Deputy Director of the California federal, state and local environmental strike a balance between smoky winter
Department of Forestry and Fire and air pollution regulations. A burn skies and bad summer blazes. California
Protection. among giant sequoia trees once took proclaimed a state of emergency to
13 years to accomplish, said Michael allow it to fast-track brush clearing.
Public concern is preventing Theune, a spokesman for the Sequoia
Most states and federal agencies in
more prescribed burns and Kings Canyon national parks in
the U.S. West have ambitious goals they
California.
But public concern is one of the reasons don't achieve, said Crystal Kolden, a
that burns don’t always happen. In “In the American West, where the University of Idaho forest and fire
2012, for example, a prescribed burn in landscape is steep and downed trees, science professor whose study
the state of Colorado got out of control brush and other fuels have built up over concluded that not enough prescribed
and killed three people and destroyed decades of fire suppression, the so- fires are being done in the region.
more than two dozen homes. called burn window can be short
Firefighters retreat as a fire front approaches near the city of Carlsbad in California A water-bombing aircraft attacks a wildfire near Mendocino
Tactic of prescribed
burns encounters
ongoing hurdles in
America’s West
he prescribed burn, a low- According to a late 2019 report by “Prescribed fires are credited with
T intensity, closely managed fire
intended to clear out
undergrowth and protect
national parks and other land, is
considered one of the best ways to
the Associated Press news agency, a
study published in the journal Fire
found prescribed burns on federal land
in the last 20 years across the West has
stayed level or fallen, despite calls for
making forests healthier and stopping
or slowing the advance of some blazes.
Despite those successes, there are
plenty of reasons they are not set as
often as officials would like – ranging
prevent catastrophic wildfires in the more such burns. from poor conditions [in which to] to
American West. safely [set a] burn, to bureaucratic snags
20 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 21WILDFIRES: PRESCRIBED BURNS WILDFIRES: INVESTIGATION
“They know they need to be doing conservation organisation, said shrubs, and that's the model these
more prescribed fire; they want to be
doing more prescribed fire,” she said.
“They are simply unable to accomplish
that.”
reintroducing fire through prescribed
burns is appropriate in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, where more
frequent lightning-sparked fires and
prescribed burning advocates have
used,” Halsey told Associated Press.
“They say if we have younger fuels on
the landscape, we'll have less fires or
Startling negligence by
utility company caused
devastating wildfire
egligence and failure to maintain could have prevented the blaze from company said it accepted the
N equipment by a now-bankrupt
utility company was the cause of
the deadliest wildfire in the state of
occurring, they believed.
“The identified shortcomings in
PG&E’s inspection and maintenance of
conclusions. “We remain deeply sorry
about the role our equipment had in
this tragedy, and we apologise to all
California’s history, an investigation has the incident tower were not isolated, those impacted.”
found. but rather indicative of an overall PG&E noted that it has accelerated
Among the findings of the pattern of inadequate inspection and inspections and “completed an
California Public Utilities Commission maintenance of PG&E’s transmission unprecedented process to inspect every
investigation was that a tower and facilities,” the commission said in its element of our electric system within
hook which held an electrical findings. the high-threat fire areas”. It has
transmission line in place had not been Failure to replace the hook was a checked almost 730 000 transmission,
checked in 17 years. The hook failed contravention of PG&E’s own distribution and substation structures
and the live wire then fell to the ground maintenance manual, which stated that and more than 25-million electrical
and started a blaze. “this is a hazardous Priority A condition components in those areas.
The resulting out-of-control wildfire which requires immediate response and Editor's Note: For more information on
in November 2018 all but destroyed continued action until the condition is the devastating wildfire at Paradise in
the town of Paradise, a community of repaired”. California, see our article about
around 26 000 people. A total of 85 In its response to the findings, the Prescribed Burns on page 20
people died and 18 800 buildings were
destroyed. Only 5% of buildings in the
town remained without serious damage
after the fire.
Saddled with crippling debt as a
A ruined mobile home park near the town of Paradise, where a runaway wildfire killed 83 people in 2018
result of its fire-related liabilities, the
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Opposition from blazes historically set by Native lower intensity fires, and we can use (PG&E) filed for bankruptcy. It has
environmentalists Americans are believed to improve those areas to protect communities. subsequently been determined that all
forests by clearing brush to allow taller And that has never happened in wind- victims will still be compensated by the
According to the Associated Press
trees to thrive and opening sequoia driven fires.” company.
report, opponents cite the threat to
seed pods so they can reproduce. The state of California
wildlife and release of greenhouse
gases. In California, some
But Halsey said prescribed fires acknowledged in a draft environmental Degraded hook should have
environmentalists opposed intentional
don't help much of the rest of the impact report that clearing vegetation been replaced
state. The fire that tore through may not slow or halt extreme fires.
burns because they can destroy natural During the investigation into the causes
Paradise showed how ineffective But successful prescribed burns can
drought-tolerant shrubs and replace of the Paradise wildfire, investigators
clearing underbrush can be – it roared save property from some future fires,
them with flammable invasive weeds found that if the PG & E crews had
across 11 km that had burned just 10 supporters said.
and grasses. checked the hook and tower they
years earlier.
Rick Halsey of the California would have seen that the hook was Inadequate maintenance by an electricity utility caused the most devastating wildfire in
“It was still grasses and weeds and badly degraded. Its timely replacement
Chaparral Institute, a non-profit California's history
22 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 23Scala
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missionINSURER PROPERTY PROTECTION GUIDE
another room, or from one building to 1. SUITABILITY OF PASSIVE FIRE integrity, insulation ability and the
Acceptability of passive another by means of minimum safety
distances. The requirement to minimise
the spread of fire within and between
buildings is clearly defined in the
PROTECTION (FIRE RESISTANCE):
With the exception of spatial
separation, the fire rating of passive
material’s own resistance to fire.
PRINCIPLE 2
In the case of fire doors, as an example,
fire-protection systems
fire-protection measures is provided as
National Building Regulations. See the intention of the door is to protect
a factor of time, in minutes. The time
Principle 2 of Part 2 of this article. the area of the opening the door is
factor is concluded following the
covering, to the same specification as
In Part T of SANS 10400, several testing of fire-separating elements such
the level of protection the fire wall is
sections provide passive fire protection as fire walls and fire doors. In South
intended to provide. The fastening
deemed-to-satisfy requirements. These Africa, the standard for testing is the
methods as well as the frame must
include and are not limited to the SANS 10177 suite of documents, as
carry the same fire rating as the door.
following: well as SANS 428. Test certificates must
be provided by the supplier. Stability. Stability indicates the ability
▲ Spatial separation by means of
of the fire wall or door to remain stable
minimum safety distances; The four main aspects which are
for that specified minimum period of
▲ Division-separating elements and evaluated during testing are stability,
time, and not collapse or disintegrate
maximum division areas;
▲ Occupancy separating elements;
▲ Tenancy separating elements;
▲ Partition walls and partitions;
▲ Fire stopping between floors;
▲ Protection of openings;
▲ Raised access floors and suspended
floors of combustible materials;
▲ Emergency routes;
▲ Openings in floors;
▲ Fire stopping of inaccessible
concealed spaces;
▲ Protection in service shafts;
▲ Services in structural or separating
elements;
▲ Surface-finishing materials: floors,
walls, ceilings;
▲ Lightning-protection systems and
fire retardants.
Fire doors in a hospital. The intention is to protect the area of the opening the door is covering, to the same specification as the level of PRINCIPLE 1
protection the fire wall is intended to provide Photo credit: ArchitectProjects UK
Passive fire protection is provided for in
Part T of SANS 10400. These systems
form part of the building structure with
1. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE: “The passive form of the verb is protection and its acceptability which
the sole purpose of minimising the
There are two distinct approaches to used when the grammatical subject is will be explored here.
spread of fire within and beyond the
fire-protection systems implemented in the thing that experiences the effect of
building. Most of these systems are
the built environment, namely active an action, rather than the thing that 2. REQUIREMENTS OF PASSIVE
FIRE-PROTECTION SYSTEMS: provided for during the construction
and passive fire protection. This article causes the effect.”
phase of the building as part of the
will consider the acceptability of This implies that passive fire Passive fire-protection requirements are
main structure, passive fire protection
passive fire-protection systems. protection experiences the effect of a provided for in Part T of SANS 10400.
in the form of, amongst other, fire walls,
fire rather than causes the effect. It is The fundamental approach is to provide
The term ‘passive’, according to the fire stopping and the provision of fire
this response to the effect of fire which suitable separation between rooms that
Cambridge Dictionary, is described as doors.
provides the usefulness of passive fire may contain a fire origin in order to Passive fire-protection systems must minimise the spread of fire within and between
the following:
prevent the fire from spreading to buildings
26 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 27INSURER
WIND PROPERTY
TURBINES PROTECTION GUIDE
PRINCIPLE 4 Various combinations may be applied these materials. This allows for guidance
The fire rating of finishing materials as informed by the heat-, smoke-, and flexibility, as provided by SANS
contributes in various specific ratios to flame-, surface flame spread- and 10400, of where certain finishing
the use of these finishing materials. toxicological certified test results of materials may be used or not.
Pouring a concrete base for a firewall to form part of the new building’s passive fire-protection system
due to radiation impingement resulting materials of the fire door or fire wall. In SANS 10177. Test certificates must be
from intense heat or other effects of other words, how long the wall or door provided by the supplier.
fire such as flame impingement. In itself will resist being ignited by the fire. The following inputs inform the fire
other words, the door opening, as an
example, will remain covered or
enclosed for that specified minimum
PRINCIPLE 3
The four aspects – namely stability,
rating of a finishing material: Heat
index, smoke index, flame index, surface
flame spread and toxic fume
FPA FIRE COLLEGE
integrity, insulation and resistance – as
period of time.
tested for, contribute in various specific
generation. Fire courses acknowledged
Integrity. Integrity indicates the ability
of the fire wall or fire door to remain
ratios to the fire rating or fire resistance SANS 10400 provides tables where for quality and professionalism
of the particular fire wall or fire door. the above indexes are provided for
intact for that specified minimum floor, wall and ceiling finishes.
Various combinations may be applied,
period of time, and not form cracks or
such as high insulation time but SANS 10177 has various parts
holes through which fire can spread or COURSE BOOKINGS
average stability, etc. This allows for which provide suitable testing standards
warp, allowing heat to pass through.
various options for the provision of for the above. The fire rating then FIRE PROTECTION
Insulation. Insulation indicates the suitable fire walls and fire doors as a determines a coded serial sequence ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN
ability of the fire wall or fire door to functional precaution based on the which is displayed on the underside of AFRICA
resist being heated by the fire on the actual fire load of the room(s) or carpets used in hotel rooms, for Telephone (011) 397 1618
one side for that minimum period of compartment(s) they enclose. instance. The coded sequence covers Fax (011) 397 1160 or (086) 647 1633
time, until the other side of the wall or the following in this specific order: Satellite Tel: (011) 552-6908/9
door reaches the same temperature as 2. SUITABILITY OF PASSIVE FIRE Combustibility- Non combustibility FPA Web page: http/www.fpasa.co.za
that of the fire side, also known as the PROTECTION (FIRE RATING):
/ Surface properties of combustible –
thermal penetration time. Fire rating is provided following suitable Non-combustible materials /
Resistance. Resistance indicates the testing of finishing materials in terms of Limitations on use of materials /
non-combustibility of the construction Application identification of materials.
28 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 29EXHIBITIONS
FIRE PROTECTION
Midrand. It is set to take place from 2-4
Securex 2020 June 2020.
“As a tradeshow that has a long-
standing history, it’s important that we
all fired up with
continually look for ways to keep
Securex fresh and reflective of the
greater industry,” explains Sven Smit,
Event Director at Specialised
introduction of
Exhibitions, part of the Montgomery
Group.
Firexpo will focus solely on Premium Aluzinc ® steel
new Firexpo the fire and rescue sector
“Firexpo will focus exclusively on
suppliers representing the fire and
rescue market, a critical component not
fire sprinkler and hydrant tanks
only of security, but also within
facilities management and occupational
S ecurex South Africa, the
continent’s leading security
exhibition, will see visitors getting hot
services, Firexpo will add a new
dimension to the 27-year Securex
pedigree, the organisers say.
health and safety (OHS).
“This is in keeping with our ‘2020
Vision’ theme for this year across the
three expos,” he adds. “We are
and bothered at the 2020 show, with Securex will be co-located with delighted to advise that Firexpo will be
the addition of a new sub-section, both the A-OSH EXPO and the supported by the Fire Detection
namely Firexpo. Aimed at showcasing Facilities Management Expo at Installers’ Association (FDIA), which has
the latest fire and rescue products and Gallagher Convention Centre in a long-standing reputation of providing
The FPA Fire College
POS representation and leadership to the
fire detection and gaseous The FPA Fire College offers a wide range of courses. Among
TPO extinguishing system industries for these are the Confederation of Fire Protection Associations
(Europe) Diploma in Fire Prevention and the CFPA Europe
unti NED
more than 20 years. It is our opinion
Principles of Fire Engineering course.
that the backing of Firexpo by the FDIA
l Au
FPASA’s Insurer Fire Impact Reduction Strategy (InFIReS)
cements our planned initiatives for the incorporates The National Fire Information Resource
gus introduction of the new section to the (NatFIRe) facility to improve the collection, collation and
t local market.”
More than 10 000 people
availability of National Fire Loss Statistics.
expected to attend
Companies operating within the fire
protection, prevention and detection
sector interested in supporting Firexpo
will benefit from the more than 10 000
visitors drawn in by the combination of
Securex, A-OSH EXPO and Facilities
Management Expo.
accredited
For more information, visit
www.securex.co.za/, or contact Specialised Proud BBBEE
Level 2
Exhibitions, part of the Montgomery Group, on Supplier
+27 (0) 11 835 1565.
FIRE PROTEC TION A S SOCIATION OF SOUTHERN AFRIC A www.rainbowtanks.co.za
Incorporated Association not for Gain. Reg No 1973/000022/08 VAT Registration No.: 4110103100
PO Box 15467 Impala Park 1472 sales@rainbowres.com
Tel: (011) 397-1618, Satellite Tel: (011) 552-6908/9, Fax: (011) 397-1160, www.fpasa.co.za +27 (0)11 965 6016 • +27 (0)83 226 8572
30 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 31OUR LIBRARY
New building fire The rapid shift in Changing climate NFPA 13: Water- NFPA 101: Life safety Grenfell Phase
safety-rating system building-design for emergency based fire- in new and existing Two inquiry
materials management protection systems structures
Fire Risk Management underway
Justin Francis Fire Risk Management Fire Australia NFPA Journal NFPA Journal
June 2019 Bob Glendenning Alana Beitz Jonathan Hart Kristin Bigda hase Two of the Grenfell Tower
Justin Francis presents his outline of a
June 2019 Issue 1, 2019 Jan/Feb 2019 May/June 2019
P Inquiry into the causes of the
new fire and safety-rating system blaze that killed 72 people and
To keep pace with the rapid shift in Fire and emergency services deal with Understanding terminology is Balancing the long-standing focus of
designed for medium- and high-rise injured 70 more in June 2017 got
building-design materials and extreme weather on a daily basis. While important when applying codes and occupant life safety from fire events
buildings worldwide. This article underway in London on 27 January
specification, the fire-protection fire, flood, storms and heatwaves are all standards. Equally important is with the growing need for security from
outlines a Building–Fire and Life Safety 2020.
industry is changing. Bob Glendenning naturally occurring hazards, climate understanding the relationship between non-fire related events, continues to be
Rating (B-FLSR) system aimed at both
examines the subject. Across towns and change increases their frequency, different codes and standards that a common theme running through the Broadly, Phase One sought to
old and new medium- and high-rise
cities, architects have been creating severity and complexity – putting apply to a single building. These two proposed changes and technical determine what happened on the
buildings. The rating provides
more interestingly shaped buildings, additional stress on fire and emergency factors are demonstrated in the committee discussions during the first night and its hearings concluded in
information to occupants of the
often fully glazed with the steel frame services. The impact and flow-on effect application and use of quick-response stages of developing the 2021 edition December 2018, with the report
building on the level, type of fire, and
on show. You need only look at the of climate changes are of significant sprinklers in health-care occupancies of the NFPA 101 life-safety code. published in October 2019.
life-safety protection within the
London skyline to see how these concern for emergency personnel and and requirements of NFPA 101 (Life Providing guidelines for how to safety-
building. In this way, it encourages a Phase Two’s purpose is to find
stunning buildings have grown in the communities they operate in. safety code) and NFPA 13 (Installation lock classroom doors in schools,
proactive approach to building fire and out what happened, why, and what
popularity and imagination in recent of sprinkler systems), as well as in the daycare facilities and office buildings is
life safety. can be done to prevent it from
years. This is due in part to intumescent difference between the terms a recent example of how the code has
coating, which protects the steel in a
Choosing the right ‘compartment’ and ‘smoke addressed a specific need to balance life
happening again. It is not certain
how long Phase Two will take, but
building by forming a char in the event fixed fire protection compartments’. safety alongside fire and occupant
the hearings are expected to
of fire. security. However, are we at a point
for buildings where fire and safety drills have conclude sometime in 2021, with
become excessive? Do we risk the report to follow thereafter.
Fire Risk Management discouraging the appropriate occupant It is likely that the findings of
Gary Howe response, thereby diminishing the value both Phase One and Phase Two of
of all drills? the inquiry will inform any future
November 2019
An installed automatic fixed firefighting legal proceedings, whether criminal
system is a highly effective element in or civil.
the fire-protection strategy of a One of the surprising aspects of
building because it is immediately Phase One was that changes to
available and is designed specifically to fire-safety regulations in the UK
meet the defined fire hazard. Selecting relating to building cladding– the
the appropriate form of fixed fire primary problem in the Grenfell
protection for complete building Tower fire – were implementing
protection will require the input, help before the Phase One findings were
and specialist knowledge of a published.
competent person who will be faced
with the challenge of not only This was because Phase One
satisfying the requirement of the took far longer to complete than
current building regulations and the anticipated. To date there are
local fire authority (which are already 75 000 documents that
predominately life-safety need to be considered during Phase
requirements), but also the property- Two.
protection requirements of the building
insurer.
32 Fire Protection • March 2020 Fire Protection • March 2020 33You can also read
