1 month ago
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Wildfires that have raged through one of Africa’s largest national parks were under control, Namibia’s government has said, amid criticisms from citizen firefighters over the lack of a national disaster response mechanism and limited resources.
Fire broke out in Etosha national park, in the arid desert nation’s north, on 22 September. The government said it suspected charcoal production next to the park, which is home to 114 mammal species including the critically endangered black rhino, was to blame.
On Saturday, the government said 49 soldiers were being deployed to fight the fires and a further 500 on Sunday. It said more than 775,000 hectares inside the park, about a third of its area, had been burned and another 171,000 outside it.
“All fires contained / mop-up and monitoring continues,” the prime minister, Tjitunga Elijah Ngurare, posted on his Facebook page on Monday morning, listing 10 separate blazes in the region.
However, Sean Naude, a businessman who leads Namibian Marshall Rangers, a group of rescue service volunteers, said there were at least four “active fires”. He said: “Fires in the park are pretty much contained, but not extinguished and the others running from the park are still out of control. However there is not much in the park left to burn.”
He criticised the government for not coordinating with citizens and private organisations sooner. “Why did they take so long to accept our help? [It took them ] five days… [and] only on the fourth day was the army deployed.”
Frank Stein, who runs Bay Air Aviation, a medical air ambulance company, flew reconnaissance flights in a Cessna airplane and a helicopter on Saturday and Sunday to help farmers battling to stop the fires spreading further south of the national park on to their land.
He said: “I read in the news that the Namibian Defence Force is fighting the fires and this might very well be, but I didn’t see them on the ground. All I saw was a handful of farmers, maybe 50 people in total, different groups, trying to fight the fires with, I wouldn’t even call it limited resources.”
Stein said the government was now asking his company and others to submit proposals to help them fight the fires, adding: “All of a sudden there’s an emergency and … then everybody’s happy to pay, but by that time it’s too late. The economy of scale option has passed you.”
Earlier on Monday, Namibia’s prime minister posted on Facebook: “We appreciate those in the private sector that are assisting in curtailing the fire… Let’s work together: government and private sector. Let’s discourage those engaging in helpless blame game [sic]. Government has deployed resources to ensure the fire is contained.”
The government said that an elephant death had been reported but not confirmed, nine antelopes had been killed by the fire and one pangolin rescued.
The park’s main attraction for tourists is the ancient Etosha salt pan. It is 80 miles long and 30 wide and draws huge flocks of flamingoes during the rainy season, which usually starts in October or November.
