We don't have winter, we call it fire season.
For some odd reason there is an attitude that has developed in parts of South Africa that if grass is dry it must be burned.
So typically not a day goes by when there is not a pillar of smoke rising into the air somewhere in the vicinity.
This picture above was just down the road on Friday. Most of the locals are on Watsapp groups or some other means of communication.
If its windy these fires spread rapidly and a fire a couple of kilometers away can quickly become your problem in just a matter of minutes or hours. It's simpler to all band together as quickly as possible and put the fire out as early as possible before it rages along a broad front. This way you have many neighbors co-operating to put the fire out as soon as one is detected.
The best place to defend against fire is at a road, fire-brake or other suitable area devoid of flammable material.
The wind behind this fire was too strong and it easily jumped this road seconds after taking this picture. Luckily the winter frosts have been mild so far so there was still some greenness in the grass on the other side of the road and the wind turned. We were able to put it out and then back-burn from the road verge towards the approaching flames and prevent any further fire jumping the road.