Insurers’ QRF initiative mitigates wildfire risks

As the frequency and severity of veld and wildfires rise, a handful of South African insurers are getting more involved in practical fire-related risk (and exposure) mitigation efforts. Your writer was schooled on an impactful initiative during a recent ‘Fighting Wildfires in the Cape Webinar’ held to raise awareness of the country’s Fire Protection Associations (FPAs) and insurers’ quick response force (QRF).

Evolving weather-related risks

Annette Botha, a meteorologist at Vox Weather, framed the two-hour-long discussion by explaining the influence of climate change on the wildfire risk landscape. She told the audience that rapid changes in global climate systems would have a significant impact on communities and the insurance industry. One of the main concerns is that average annual global temperatures are on the rise. “We need to learn how to manage evolving weather-related risks,” Botha said, warning that a 2.7C increase in global temperatures was on the cards. 

Higher average annual temperatures are contributing to a rise in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, inflating the risk that insurers and reinsurers are exposed to. Botha said that while it was difficult to draw direct links between climate change and wildfire, the Western Cape had experienced one of its most intense wildfire seasons in 2024; in just 12 months, more than 6000 fires burned over 100000 hectares. Mpumalanga also experienced an above-trend wildfire season last year. 

Long-range heat maps show a significant spike in the number of heatwave events across KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape under a global average temperature increase of 1.5C, with the picture worsening at 2C or 3C. Somewhat counterintuitively, a hotter world does not rule out flood losses. The latest climate models suggest overall annual precipitation and soil moisture levels will decline across South Africa with heavier, unpredictable rainfalls still contributing to flood damage and losses associated with water run-off in drier terrain. 

Rising temperatures; erratic rainfalls

“If we live in a warmer world, heat waves [and fires] are going to increase countrywide; high fire danger warnings will be continuous and relentless,” Botha said. This makes it more important than ever to develop solutions to fight wildfires before they get out of hand. The approach is simple enough. As Botha explained, we have to adapt to the evolving risk landscape and join forces to mitigate the risk. 

Andries Wiese, National Business Development Manager at Hollard Insurance and facilitator for the event, called on Doctor Moses Khangale, Manager for Stakeholder Programmes at Santam, and chair of the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) Property Protection Committee, to comment on the country’s National Veld and Forest Fire Act. “The legislation identifies decentralisation and integration among its policy principles; there is an appreciation that effective management of fire risk has to be localised, and that to manage fire risks at a local level, we must integrate with other initiatives,” Khangale said. The second principle ‘baked into’ the legislation relates to individual responsibility. 

In this context, the legislation is applicable to landowners whose properties are at risk of veld fire. “An individual landowner is called upon to take certain minimum precautions to manage veld fires including things like maintaining fire breaks, having firefighting equipment, and training personnel etc,” Khangale said. A first step is for landowners to voluntarily join their local FPA, described in the legislation as a cooperative platform for landowners in a particular jurisdiction to collaborate to prevent and manage veld fires. 

Coordination, cooperation non-negotiable

The third principle informing the legislation is that of coordination and cooperation. According to the presenter, the effective management of wildfire risks requires common purpose across government, landowners, and the insurance industry. “We are insurers, we are competitors, but we are reaching out within this particular framework with a view to ensuring that we are able to tackle and reduce fire losses and fire risks,” Khangale said, before commenting on the need for municipalities and state-owned enterprises to get involved in FPA structures. 

The law makes it voluntary for private landowners to join a FPA, but mandatory for state agencies. “More needs to be done to rally state agencies behind FPAs, and to encourage them to join FPAs as paid-up members, not only to bring financial resources, but to also be part of integrated fire management strategies,” he said. SOE and state participation is common sense given the hundreds of veld fires that originate on the tracts of land owned or managed by the likes of Eskom, SANRAL, and Transnet. 

Wiese encouraged insurers to get involved in the fire management process. “The Act is a concerted effort by all involved to [reduce wildfire risks] for insureds, and hence you will find references to fires and the Act in your insurance policy wording,’ he said. “Your compliance with that Act is actually going to determine whether your insurance cover is in place or not.” From a broker’s perspective, you may wish to revisit your client’s veld fire obligations and check their policy wordings for potential sticking points in the event of a fire-related property loss or damage claim. 

Insurers step in to fund airborne firefighting

Insurance brands such as Bryte Insurance, Hollard Insurance, Infiniti Insurance, Lombard Insurance, Old Mutual Insure, and Santam Insurance have put their weight behind the aforementioned QRF initiative which aims to have firefighting helicopters in place to improve outcomes when combatting wildfires. The QRF covers a helicopters’ first hour of flight, providing crucial support while property owners activate their own resources to manage fires. 

The webinar was rounded off with presentations by Dale Nortje of the Cape Winelands FPA and Mark Jackson of Leading Edge Aviation. Nortje informed the audience about the role of the various FPAs in reducing injuries and losses to life, property, or the environment due to uncontrolled veld fires. Not all fire is bad. The FPA member reminded the audience that veld fires were necessary for environments to flourish, and that veld fire management expanded to disciplines such as the management of mountain rainwater catchment areas and fresh water supplies. 

“If fires occur too frequently then the vegetation does not have time to re-seed properly and we end up losing species,” Nortje said. FPAs exist to reduce the number of veld fires or wildfires, and through the coordination and cooperation of all stakeholders, develop and implement consistent wildfire management strategies in each FPA area. He affirmed the need for localised approaches to veld fire management due to divergent farming practices and vegetation types. For example, the Western Cape Winelands differ from the Mpumalanga Highveld in both fire frequency and affected ecologies. 

Members presumed innocent until…

The Act is not prescriptive, allowing each FPA to develop plans that make sense in their area. In the case of firebreaks, for example, each FPA can set minimum requirements for the width of a firebreak; periods during which burning is allowed; etc. “The Cape Winelands FPA covers an area of about 2.39 million hectares that includes diverse vegetation,” Nortje said. This area is further broken down into fire management units (FMUs) and finally wards. 

An interesting snippet from this segment of the webinar was that members of an FPA are presumed to be ‘not negligent’ in any civil proceedings following a veld fire that started or spread from their properties, whereas those who are not members have to prove they were not negligent. The presenter shared a long list of FPA functions including assists with basic training, wildfire firefighting, and more advanced fire management courses for members and their staff; serving as a link between landowners and fire brigade services; and facilitating the issuing of burn permits. 

Jackson used his time to call for quicker response times when tackling wildfires. “Fires move with a terrible speed, so any delay [in fighting same] can be incredibly frustrating,” he said. The QRF offers a swift and effective air response to uncontrolled wildfires. It was designed to strip out the back-and-forth between airborne firefighting resources and those paying for their services, enabling a quicker response to veld and wildfire threats, and thereby reduce the impact on lives, livelihoods, and property. “We are small, we are quick, and we have been extremely effective,” Jackson said. 

Early intervention is crucial

Jackson noted that early intervention was crucial in preventing a fire from growing too large and requiring additional resources to fight it. “By containing the fire quickly, the QRF helps to minimise damage and reduce the overall impact on affected communities [and insurers],” he said. As such, the QRF attacks a small fire with the same veracity it would a large one. 

Those curious about the impact of slow response times in combating fires were reminded of the January 2025 California wildfires that claimed 29 lives and damaged or destroyed more than 15000 structures. Allegations have since emerged of a slow firefighting response to initial reports of the fire, most notably involving the Palisades Fire. 

Writer’s thoughts:

The Western Cape Province had to deal with around 6000 wildfires in 2024 alone, each with the potential to cause loss to life, livelihoods, and property. What can insurance brokers and risk advisers do to help the community to mitigate veld and wildfire risks? Please comment below, interact with us on X at @fanews_online or email us your thoughts editor@fanews.co.za.