LOSS of lives during veld fire outbreaks has sparked calls on the government to provide incentives to people employed to extinguish fire and community members who partake in the process, considering the dangers they face.
The concerns were raised by Hwange East legislator Joseph Bonda during a question and answer session in the National Assembly last week.
“I want to point out and highlight at the same time, asking a question that wherever we are putting out a fire in the veld, there is always some life that is lost. Wherever we are putting out a fire, it is a dangerous situation (sic),” he said.
“Does the government have plans for the people employed to provide a token, an incentive to the people who put out such fire, especially in areas that are wide open like the national parks?”
Added Bonda: “We just want to know if the government does help the people as they say. If such a disaster happens, does the government pay them to go and put out the fire? [We ask this because] they only rely on villagers who . . . when they get burnt, they do not get anything.”
Responding to the question, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Felix Mhona said the government had plans for incentives for fire fighters.
“Yes, indeed. However, you find that there are no specific areas that are earmarked for the fires to actually start from a certain place. This is something that will just emanate not willingly and within a specific neighbourhood (sic),” Mhona said.
“We know that fire can start from any place. We are saying the essence of us coming together to fight a veld fire as a community is a noble task that does not require someone to be paid.
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“I am saying this is a very important proposal to say maybe we have fire marshals within our districts to superintend over such veld fires.
I will relay the message to the minister responsible to also start interrogating and making sure that, if it is possible, to have champions who then make sure that we put out the fire if it starts.”
Mhona said, it was mandatory that every citizen, if they see a fire starting they should put it out.
A latest report states that nearly US$1 million worth of property that includes agricultural equipment, tourism facilities, cars and residential places have been destroyed by veld fires across the country since the beginning of the fire restriction season in July.
Indications are that veld fires have claimed two lives and burnt 582 922,60 hectares of land from 1 792 recorded incidents.
This has been blamed on the high-risk environment due to heavy rains during the preceding season, which resulted abundant biomass.
The Environmental Management Agency has issued warnings about the increased risk of veld fires this year.
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