EMA steps up veld fire surveillance using new technology

Obey Musiwa

Herald Reporter

THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has intensified efforts to combat wildfires by deploying computer-generated risk mapping and near real-time satellite monitoring in the country’s most fire-prone provinces.

The technology is expected to strengthen early-warning systems and enable authorities to identify areas at high risk of wildfires, particularly as the dry season approaches.

The satellite monitoring system will help EMA track fires and respond more quickly, protecting rural communities, forests, wildlife and livelihoods from the devastating effects of veld fires.

Speaking during a wildfire preparedness briefing, EMA environmental education and publicity manager and spokesperson Mrs Amkela Sidange said that fire management is not merely a technical exercise but a matter of safeguarding homes, forestry, farmland and the people who depend on them.

She said the scale of destruction recorded over the years showed why prevention could no longer be treated as optional.

“Looking back over the past 23 years, we have lost lodges, forestry and farming equipment, and a lot of our energy infrastructure has been destroyed by fire,” she said.

“It is not only about property; human livelihoods remain our major concern.”

Turning to how EMA prepares for the season, she explained that the agency now opens each year with a computer-generated risk prediction that flags which provinces face the greatest danger long before the dry season sets in.

“As we approach the end of the rainy season, we do what we call the fire risk prediction, using the normalised difference vegetation index to look at the health of vegetation and determine what risk it presents,” she said.

“This year the assessment showed that most of the country is at medium to high risk, with Manicaland’s provinces, parts of Matabeleland North, and some districts in Matabeleland South leading in that riskiness.”

She added that EMA now tracks fires as they burn, using satellite remote sensing that picks up heat signatures on the ground within hours of ignition.

“As we move closer to the dry period, we go into fire monitoring using a remote sensor, and this is actually real time; we are able to tell where there is a fire and communicate with structures on the ground,” she said.

“The satellite passes around 10:30 in the morning and 1:30 in the afternoon, so it is near real-time information that helps us see what is happening on any given day.”

By pairing prediction with detection, EMA is proving that a distant satellite pass can matter as much as a fire-break on the ground, turning raw data into a lifeline for the people who live closest to the flames.

Mrs Sidange said traditional leaders had become key allies, resolving wildfire cases through their own customary courts rather than routing every incident back to EMA.

“We are taking advantage of what traditional leaders are doing through their traditional courts; some of them are managing the issue of wildfires so well within their immediate localities,” she said.

“It is pointless to have all 35 villages phoning EMA; it overwhelms us. But if every village has its own system of managing fires, then at that local level we can do the work.”

She also appealed for investment not just for equipment alone, but in the knowledge and mindset of ordinary villagers, framing fire prevention as a shared inheritance rather than a Government burden.

“I am not talking about money. I am talking about investing in the capacity of local people, giving them the knowledge and driving the mindset that says, for as long as we don’t start the fires, we will definitely win against these fires,” she said.