Quick Reaction Force (QRF) introduced

Quick Reaction Force (QRF) introduced

By Dale Nortje, manager, Winelands Fire Protection Association

The problem statement: The slow deployment of adequate resources when a wildfire incident is detected and/or reported.

Examples of this in the Western Cape are the devastating Knysna fires of June 2017 and more recently, the Table Mountain Fire of Sunday,

18 April 2021, that caused damages to the University of Cape Town (UCT) and other neighbouring properties.

This how the concept of the ‘Quick Reaction Force’ came about.

The manager of the Winelands Fire Protection Association (WFPA) together with one of the aircraft service providers, Leading Edge Aviation, approached one of the shortterm insurance companies’ CEO with the idea of implementing an independent, rapid deployment, helicopter attack force, to mitigate potential losses to life and property. In the light of the problem statement above, he was in full support and engaged with another group of insurers to form a consortium, to support the initiative.

A proof of concept for one fire season was finally agreed upon with six insurers proportionately making financial contributions for the initial period. An agreement was signed in October 2021 for the period 1 December 2021 to 30 April 2022.

The operations were managed by the WFPA as the implementing agent and were based at Stellenbosch Airfield. Two Bell UH1 helicopters were contracted for the season to cover an area within 50km of the Stellenbosch Airfield. The reason for this range is very simple; the aim is to provide a rapid aerial response as an initial attack, to either extinguish or contain the fire, as soon as possible until additional ground and aerial resources arrive on scene. The 50km means that the aircraft can be on scene within a maximum of 30 minutes, spend one hour on the fire and then 30 minutes back to base. This means a ‘sortie’ of two hours per deployment, which fills the gap until other resources arrive, to continue with their operations. On each deployment a qualified or experienced, ‘airboss’ accompanies the aircraft to control the aircraft during the initial attack. This simple recipe has proved immensely successful.

It is important to note that the QRF is not there to take over any existing operations but rather to supplement whatever exists. It is also there to independently protect the interests of the insurance industry, namely life and property, nothing else.

The proof of concept was a major success resulting in a potential saving of R84 600 000 to the insurance industry in the first season. This figure was based on an independent report compiled using fire spread models to establish the potential spread of a fire if no intervention happened in first few hours. The property values were based on figures obtained through Lightstone.

A further two-year agreement was subsequently signed in 2022.

Since its inception, in the Western Cape, until April 2024, the total estimated saving is approximately R495 600 000, a substantial figure in any financial report. Below are some operational statistics:

Total deployments: 59Total hours flown: 106,94Total loads dropped: 1 535Total litres dropped: 1 493 100

The ongoing success of this initiative has resulted in an expansion to Mpumalanga, being based at Mbombela (Nelspruit) and implemented by Lowveld and Escarpment Fire Protection Association (LEFPA), as from last year.