The burning question – is your farm ready for the fire season?

Why Zimbabwean farmers need a community fire strategy

The images coming out of Britain and Europe this August have been a sobering reminder of how quickly a dry landscape can become a wall of fire. Britain has experienced record levels of wildfire activity this year, with homes destroyed, communities evacuated and military personnel brought in to assist exhausted emergency services. Across Europe, major fires have affected countries including France, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Germany and Belgium amid intense heat and drought.

For Zimbabwean farmers, however, the lesson is not simply that wildfires are becoming a problem overseas. Our own fire season is already underway. Zimbabwe's 2026 veld fire restriction period runs from 1 July to 30 November, and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has been urging farmers and communities to prepare for the season.

The difference is that Zimbabwe cannot depend on the sort of firefighting resources available in wealthier countries. When a veld fire starts here, there may not be a fleet of fire engines, aircraft and hundreds of firefighters on their way within minutes.

For farmers, that makes prevention, preparedness and community response particularly important.

The fire season starts long before the first flame

Zimbabwe's dry winter leaves an enormous amount of combustible material across farms and communal land. A good rainy season can actually increase the subsequent fire risk by producing more grass and vegetation, which then dries out during winter.

The FAO's new integrated fire-management programme in Zimbabwe recognises this problem and is placing greater emphasis on prevention, preparedness, risk assessment, early warning and strengthening the capacity of communities to respond.

For farmers, the first line of defence remains the humble fireguard.

Zimbabwean guidance requires standard boundary fireguards to be at least 9 metres wide, with internal fireguards of at least 4.5 metres around fields and plantations. Fireguards must be kept clear of combustible material and inspected regularly.

But a fireguard should not be regarded as an impenetrable wall. Under strong winds and extreme conditions, fire can cross even substantial cleared areas. Its purpose is to remove fuel, slow the fire and provide farmers with a safer opportunity to contain it.

Make the fireguard a living piece of infrastructure

A fireguard constructed in June and forgotten until October is not much protection.

Farmers should inspect boundary and internal fireguards throughout the dry season, particularly after periods of strong wind. Grass can quickly grow back across a cleared strip, while leaves, branches and other combustible material can accumulate.

Where possible, farmers should also reduce the fuel load around vulnerable infrastructure. Hay, crop residues, firewood, fuel storage, workshops, barns and houses should not be surrounded by tall, dry grass.

This is where biomass harvesting can become part of fire prevention. Grass can be baled, grazed, harvested for thatching or otherwise removed from high-risk areas rather than simply being left to become fuel.

Don't wait until there is a fire to discover that the bowser doesn't work

Every farm should have a basic firefighting capability ready before the fire arrives.

That does not necessarily mean owning an expensive fire truck.

Depending on the size and nature of the operation, useful equipment can include:

• a tractor and water bowser;
• portable pumps;
• water-filled knapsack sprayers;
• fire beaters;
• hoses and nozzles;
• slashers, hoes and shovels;
• tractors and discs for extending firebreaks;
• suitable protective clothing;
• torches for night-time incidents; and
• reliable communication equipment.

The Commercial Farmers' Union has long advised farmers to keep bowsers and knapsack sprayers filled during the fire season and firefighting equipment in an accessible central location.

The important word is ready.

A tractor without fuel, a bowser with an empty tank, a pump that has not been serviced or fire beaters buried behind equipment in a shed are not an effective response system.

Build a fire brigade next door

Perhaps the greatest opportunity for Zimbabwean agriculture is to stop thinking about fire protection as an individual farm responsibility.

A fire does not recognise a boundary fence.

A blaze starting on one property can cross onto another within minutes, particularly in strong winds. The CFU has repeatedly recommended a collaborative approach in which neighbouring farmers agree on fireguards, responsibilities and how they will respond when a fire occurs.

A group of neighbouring farms could establish a simple local fire-response network.

It could be as straightforward as a WhatsApp group containing farm owners, managers, neighbouring communities and key workers, with a shared record of available equipment.

For example:

Farm A: tractor + disc
Farm B: 10,000-litre bowser
Farm C: portable pump
Farm D: trained firefighting team
Farm E: additional tractor and water tank

The group should agree beforehand on who raises the alarm, who contacts neighbours, where equipment is collected, which roads provide access and which properties or livestock receive priority.

The FAO's current integrated fire-management initiative in Zimbabwe is similarly focused on strengthening community capacity rather than relying solely on emergency suppression.

Train the people who will actually be there

A farm's most valuable firefighting resource may not be a machine. It may be the people who are on the property when the fire starts.

Farm workers and local community members should know how to raise an alarm, where equipment is kept, how to use fire beaters and knapsack sprayers safely, and when a fire has become too dangerous to approach.

EMA and the Forestry Commission can also be approached regarding training for farm and community firefighting teams.

Traditional leaders and local communities have an important role too. Zimbabwean fire-management guidance has encouraged communities to establish local firefighting teams and fire-alert systems, while recording and reporting fire incidents.

The objective is to create a system where a fire spotted at 2pm is already being dealt with by 2.10pm, rather than discovered hours later when it has become a major veld fire.

Know where your livestock will go

Fire plans often focus on buildings and crops, but livestock can be equally vulnerable.

Every livestock farmer should identify one or more safe refuge areas before the fire season. These should have relatively little combustible vegetation, reliable water and good access.

Staff should know which gates need to be opened and where cattle, sheep, goats or other livestock should be moved.

This is not something to improvise when smoke is already moving across the farm.

Be particularly careful with fire during the restriction period

Farmers should be aware of the legal restrictions applying during Zimbabwe's veld fire season.

The 2026 restriction period runs from 1 July to 30 November. Farmers should not assume that a small agricultural burn is harmless simply because they have done it before.

Where controlled burning is legally permitted and appropriate, it should be planned carefully, with the required notifications and precautions. CFU guidance stresses that controlled burning should be undertaken under suitable weather conditions, with fireguards and firefighting equipment already in place.

The safest approach during the dry season is to avoid unnecessary fire altogether.

This includes taking care with cigarette ends, rubbish burning, ash pits, welding and machinery that can produce sparks. Vehicles travelling through tall, dry roadside grass can also create ignition risks from hot exhausts or mechanical faults.

Protect people before property

There is an understandable instinct among farmers to fight hard to save crops, livestock, houses and infrastructure. But a veld fire can change direction extremely quickly.

No bale of hay, hectare of grazing or piece of machinery is worth a life.

Farm fire plans should therefore establish clear evacuation points and identify circumstances in which people withdraw rather than attempting to hold a fire line.

The priority should be:

People first. Livestock second. Critical infrastructure third. The veld last.

Britain offers a warning but Zimbabwe has its own strengths

The recent fires in Britain demonstrate that even countries with sophisticated emergency services can become overwhelmed when extreme heat, drought, wind and abundant dry vegetation combine. Military personnel have been deployed to assist with firefighting and firebreak construction, while farmers themselves have played important roles in containing fires.

Zimbabwe does not have the same resources.

But we do have something equally important: communities that know their land.

Farmers know which roads are passable, which paddocks can provide refuge, where water is available and where fires historically start. Farm workers know the landscape intimately. Neighbours know which tractors, bowsers and equipment are available.

The challenge is to turn that local knowledge into an organised response.

The most effective Zimbabwean fire strategy may therefore not be to try to replicate the expensive firefighting systems of Europe. It is to make thousands of farms, villages and farming communities better prepared to prevent fires, detect them early and respond together.

During Zimbabwe’s dry and dangerous season, the question every farmer should be asking is not simply:

“What will we do if a fire starts?”

It should be:

“What have we done today to make sure that fire cannot become a disaster?”

Sources

• Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Zimbabwe — 2026 veld fire restriction period and fire-prevention guidance.
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) — Zimbabwe's 2026 Integrated Fire Management project and Global Fire Management Hub.
• Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) — Veld Fire Preparedness and guidance on fireguards, equipment and community cooperation.
• Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) — Farmers and Veld Fire Preparedness.
• Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) — Fireguard Construction: Frequently Asked Questions.
• Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) — Fire management and community awareness.
• Reuters — reporting on the 2026 wildfire emergency in Britain.
• The Guardian — reporting on the August 2026 wildfire crisis across Europe.