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The Fires of Y2k

Y2K saw spectacular fires on the Cape Peninsula. But these were not particularly large, nor really spectacular. Larger fires ranged the Hottentots Holland in 1999. And hundreds of fires raged on the more remote mountains during the same period as the Peninsula fires, eliciting little comment.

Let us not detract from the human disaster. There is no doubt that a National Emergency was warranted. But the fact remains that Fynbos is the home of fire. Fires have always been, and will always be, crucial to the survival, biological diversity and maintenance of Fynbos. The problem is not the fire. The problem is the aliens! Firstly, humans. We need houses! But to build them in exposed areas, using flammable thatch and without adequate fire belts is just plain stupid. Most homeowners are ignorant of Fynbos fires. But how did the planners allow such bad development to be passed? Who is responsible for this gross negligence? The expertise and knowledge to plan developments and manage veld adequately exist not only in managers’ plans, but in legislation. Why have we become lax and careless?
And then there are the alien plants with their high fuel loads. These must be eliminated. Not just the pines, wattles and gums. But also alien proteas, pincushions and hakeas. Landowners harbouring aliens should be penalized. Alien control is a sound investment!
It must be pointed out though, that the calm conditions during the fire were ideal for fire control. Had the southeaster sprung up, the damage to houses in Hout Bay and Constantia – and even Llundudno and Camp’s Bay - would have been far, far worse.

However, we have had a lot of nonsense rhetoric. Thus people decried the fires as unnatural evils in terms of the birds and tortoises killed. This is absolute nonsense. All Fynbos animals are adapted to Fynbos, and this means Fire. Interesting, few Fynbos animals live long enough to experience more than one fire, thus fire behaviour must be instinctual, rather than learned. Birds fly out early. In fact, Sugarbird populations at Kirstenbosch – 10km away - became "noisy" while the fire was still burning. These birds move 100s of kilometres every year – in fact, we do not know where these birds go: after the winter breeding territories and the spring feeding territories the birds just disappear from the Peninsula in summer! A fire just changes which feeding grounds the birds use.
Even the tortoises are adapted to fire. Here is a slow plodder – how can it survive the fire? Amazingly, most tortoises survive by seeking shelter in burrows and among rocks. But this is "human-think". Tortoises really survive fires by laying their eggs in spring (before the fire season) which hatch in autumn, after the fire season. So the adults are expendable, but the babies are safe!
But rodents, snakes, lizards and other animals survive fire well – the number of live animals visible after a fire, far exceeds the few corpses seen. Surprisingly, a large amount of insects also survive – some fly off, but many survive by dropping and digging in the soil – scratching the still hot ash, can expose an amazing diversity of survivors! The only animal that I cannot conceive of a fire survival strategy for is the chameleon – with live bearing and living on twigs, how does it survive the fire? But they are there - they survive somehow! Like the protea seeds protected in their cones, the pincushions with their ant-buried seeds and the resprouters with their thick bark and underground boles – the animals have strategies for surviving fires. Klipspringers, Vaal Rhebuck and tortoises walk across the blackened landscapes, grazing on the resprouting plants. Fire is no big deal.

There has been a loud call for "restoration" of the burned areas. The arrogance of man! For millions of years Fynbos has coped and thrived on fires, and now suddenly it needs human intervention to survive? The truth is that only those areas invaded by man-introduced aliens, trashed by irresponsible development or inappropriately designed and managed require any "restoration." And most of that restoration is required to ameliorate the possible consequences to human habitation. We reap what we sow. With sound ecologically-sensitive developments and proper management of aliens, restoration of Fynbos will be fire.

And then there were the claims that tourists would not visit the "destroyed" Fynbos on our "burned-down" mountains. "Millions of Rands of tourist revenue would be lost". "No one will want to visit the Cape Peninsula ever again". One wonders where these people are now, with hikers scrambling over the charcoal to see the Fire Lilies, Blood Lilies, and orchids which have already flowered, and the prospect of spectacular Watsonia, daisy and bulb displays. It is indeed fortunate that Fynbos will not burn before it is ready to. Otherwise these same people would probably advocate a 5-year fire cycle to maintain these displays, so as to attract tourists.

Enjoy the spectacular post-fire displays. After all it will be about 20 years before we will see them again in these areas! But do not forget that within the next 10-30 years there will definitely be another fire. And the weather may not be so kind next time. We must plan our developments and manage our veld accordingly.

Tony Rebelo

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