Fire plagues Table Mountain, Cape Town
Fire plagues Table Mountain, Cape Town
9 December 2005
published by www.chinaview.cn
JOHANNESBURG — South African firefighters were kept busy onThursday battling a series of blazes in the Cape Town area and the Boland, oneof which burned a factory and a house.
Working on Fire spokeswoman Val Charlton said that the most serious was a blazeraging in fynbos above the settlement of Kommetjie on the Peninsula, wherebuildings were under threat.
There was a great deal of smoke, and authorities were trying to close roads totraffic, she said, adding that two Russian MI8 helicopters were wate rbombingthe fire, and would probably continue doing so until darkness fell.
The fire, burning in the Table Mountain National Park area, was driven by a verystrong southeaster, she said.
In the Dassenberg area north of the city, a veld fire which started on Wednesdayhad been running parallel to the N7, and at one point jumped the road.
A factory which she understood manufactured sanitation equipment, and a house,possibly a holiday home, had gone up in flames.
The helicopters had been water-bombing it earlier in the day, but left it toCape Town municipal ground crews when they were called to deal with theKommetjie fire.
Four “bomber” aircraft had also been deployed on the Dassenberg fire.
