FIRE, FLOOD AND ICE: SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSIONS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE

Abstract

Between the end of 1999 and the early months of the year 2000, the south western parts of South Africa (SA) were subjected to raging infernos that saw a lot of commercial wine farms as well as tourist spots almost irreparably ravaged. With volunteers and rescue personnel still gasping for fresh breath another disaster, in the form of torrential rains, struck the impoverished country of Mozambique and the north western parts of SA. The attendant floods did not only cripple agriculture but also drowned people and livestock alike. With them, also came the first "treebirth" in this new millennium (if not in the history of mankind). In both catastrophes, the men and women of the South African Air Force (SAAF), as well as thousands of other volunteers, worked tirelessly and unselfishly in efforts to save endangered lives and property and to bring a sense of normality in otherwise tragic circumstances.