Every winter, veld fires threaten lives, property, livestock and wildlife in the Magaliesburg region. This year, our local lead co-ordinator in the town, Ryan Marsden took the initiative to host a pre-fire season fun and training day.
The day’s programme included demonstrations of fire-fighting techniques and equipment; training in back-burning and fire breaks; guidance around the role of women and children in dealing with bush fires by Working on Fire.
Netcare 911 offered advice around dealing with trauma in burn victims, and Benjiflo and Country Pharmacy shared useful tips on how best to care for the elderly and injured after a fire. One of the highlights of the day was the demonstration of scene safety during a car fire presented by the Krugersdorp Fire Department.
We also had the opportunity to introduce Nedbank’s Proud of my Town initiative to visitors. Nedbank has been involved in a host of development initiatives in the Magalies community since 2014 – previously under the name ‘The Places Programme’.
This programme is now known as ‘Proud of my Town’ and has since expanded to the Western Cape. This year will see PoMT launch in five more towns across South Africa – more about this later!
Thank you to the West Rand District Municipality for partnering with the Magalies Development Initiative on hosting this day! Thank you also to every sponsor, local business, NGO and faith-based organisation that played a part.