Volunteer Wildfire Services

The Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS) has been on the front line, combating dangerous and sometimes deadly runaway wildfires since its inception during the devastating fires that ravaged Cape Town in 1999/2000. With a force of more than 350 volunteers, with women making up 34% of our volunteers, who operate from our four stations, Newlands, South Peninsula, Stellenbosch, and Helderberg. VWS is the largest volunteer firefighting organisation in South Africa. VWS stands tall as a powerful non-profit organization, driven by a team of fiercely passionate volunteers, and led by our fearless CEO, Claire Lötter. In the face of some of the most ferocious fires Cape Town and the Western Cape have ever seen, our relentless team of highly trained ground crews work together with other emergency service organisations to protect lives and homesteads. Thanks to our unwavering commitment, VWS has recorded over 100,000 active firefighting hours between its members and stations, showing that nothing can stand in our way when it comes to protecting our beloved communities and natural landscapes. As we see our fire season’s lengthening and the frequency of wildfires increasing; we are more committed to serving our communities and continuing our goals of educating and promoting “good fire”, saving and protecting South Africa’s natural heritage, property, lives, and precious mountain water catchment areas.