COMPANY IN E2.4M LOSS AFTER WILDFIRES

GEGE – The winter fire season is in full swing across the country, with a forestry company already counting about E2.4million in losses due to burnt timber.

Over the past week, which was characterised by strong winds, smoky skies could be witnessed in many areas across the country as fires raged on, causing serious damage to forests, grasslands and even homesteads.

The most significant of the damage occurred at Mbondela Farm, around Gege in the Shiselweni Region, where it was reported that about six hectares of eucalyptus trees were damaged by a raging fire which broke out at around 2pm last Monday. Financial damage was estimated by the Shiselweni Forestry Company to be around E2.4 million, which was described as a huge blow to the company’s production.

Forest fires have become a recurring phenomenon in the Shiselweni Region, whose economy is mostly driven by timber production. At the root of the problem is the practice of harvesting honey in gum tree plantations by residents, who usually ignite fires during the process to avoid being stung by bees as they extract the honeycomb.

Suspect

With the recent incident, management of the affected timber company also suspects that honey harvesting could have been an element, but the matter is still under active police investigation.

This is according to Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni, who confirmed that an employee of the company reported a fire incident at Mbondela Farm, where the blaze is said to have caused considerable damage to gum trees covering about six hectares of land. She said the cause of the fire remains unknown, but indicated that an investigation into the matter was ongoing.

Witnesses disclosed that helicopters made repeated trips on Monday afternoon in order to put out the fire at Mbondela Farm.
The fire broke in a part of the forest and spread to a large area, igniting a massive response from the company security and other employees.

Initial efforts by the employees stationed at the Mbondela site failed to contain the inferno, forcing the local forestry company to seek help from their counterparts in South Africa (SA). Helicopters sought from a company based in SA ferried water from reservoirs to spray over the fire-ravaged plantations for the better part of Monday afternoon.

SFC management said forest fires were a recurring phenomenon, which is why the company had invested a large chunk of its resources in raising awareness among communities around their plantations about the importance of preventing their occurrence.

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