Civil Engineering March 2022 | Vol 30 No 2

Civil Engineering March 2022 63 WUI fire destroyed around 1 000 homes in the area in 2017. Such large-scale events will inevitably occur again in the future. 13 CONCLUDING REMARKS In general, fire safety infrastructure is a significant concern and if South Africa does not invest in such infrastructure, including technical skills and municipal capacity, it is inevitable that the country will experience increased losses each year, rather than decreasing losses as seen in many developed countries. Fire incidents lead to massive economic, social and environmental damage. It is impossible to have sustainable infrastructure if it burns down. This summary report outlines a number of key areas of concern. However, from the primary technical document this report is based upon, it is shown that in almost all areas of fire safety our local infrastructure (fire services, private infrastructure, WUI fires, governmental buildings, industrial facilities, etc.) is at high risk.  REFERENCES 1. Republic of South Africa. National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103. Government Gazette. 1977;145(5640). 2. SABS. 2020. SANS 10400-T:2020 – The Application of the National Building Regulations Part T: Fire Protection. South African Bureau of Standards. 3. SFPE. 2018. Recommended Minimum Technical Core Competencies for the Practice of Fire Protection Engineering. https://www.sfpe.org/advocacy- qualifications/core-competencies . 4. Walls R. 2020. Appendix F: Fire Safety Environment and Regulatory Systems in Developing Countries: A Case Study on South Africa. In: Moullier T, Sakoda K, Meacham B, Abrassart T, McAllister A, Krimgold F, eds. Urban Fire Regulatory Assessment and Mitigation Evaluation Diagnostic. Washington DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34671 . 5. FPASA. 2021. SA National Fire Statistics 2020. Fire Prot. (September):6-18. 6. SACN. 2017. Linking Population Dynamics To Municipal Revenue Allocation in South African Cities. Johannesburg: South African Cities Network. 7. Stats SA. 2011. Statistical Release Mortality and Causes of Death in South Africa, 2011: Findings from Death Notification. Pretoria: Stats SA. 8. Ahrens M, Evarts B. 2021. Fire Loss in the United States During 2020. Vol 84. NFPA. 9. UK Home Office. 2021. Fire Statistics Table 0101: Incidents Attended by Fire and Services by Nation and Population. UK Home Office. https://www.gov.uk/government/ statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data- tables#incidents-attended . 10. Kahanji C, Walls RS, Cicione A. 2019. Fire spread analysis for the 2017 Imizamo Yethu informal settlement conflagration in South Africa. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct (39). doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101146. 11. NDMC. 2016. White Paper on Fire Services. Pretoria: South African National Disaster Management Centre. 12. Walls R, Cicione A, Pharoah R, Zweig P, Smith M, Antonellis D. 2020. Fire Safety Engineering Guideline for Informal Settlements: Towards Practical Solutions for a Complex Problem in South Africa. (Walls R, ed.). Stellenbosch: FireSUN Publications. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/108926 . 13. Forsyth G, Le Maitre DC, Van Den Dool R, Walls R, Pharoah R, Fortune G. 2019. The Knysna Fires of 2017: Learning from the Disaster. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/333682368_the_knysna_ fires_of_2017_learning_from_this_ disaster . 14. Walls R, Moran A, van Straten A, Sander Z. 2019. The Knysna Fires of 2017: Learning from This Disaster – Technical Report: Analysis and Lessons Learnt from the Homes and Structures Which Were Damaged or Destroyed in the Incident. Figure 7 Aerial image of Knysna showing destroyed structures, damaged structures and the burn scar after the large fire of 2017 which destroyed almost 1 000 homes 14 Destroyed structure/home Damaged structure/home Burn scar/burnt area Key: