Forest fires out of control
Forest fires out of control
23 September 2007
published by www.news24.com
Mpumalanga, South Africa — Extreme weather conditions have caused a repeat of last month’s forest fires across Mpumalanga, said Working on Fire on Sunday.
“We are back into firestorm scenario… nothing is under control,” said Working on Fire’s provincial co-ordinator Jacques Benade.
Benade said there were “literally” fires all over Mpumalanga.
There were two very big fires in Sabi and Machadodorp, he said.
Other fires were raging at Belfast, Kaapsehoop, Lothair, Oshoek, Piet Retief North, Piet Retief South, Paulpietersburg and in Nelspruit.
Fires had also been reported in Kroonstad, in Tzaneen in Limpopo and Carletonville in Gauteng.
Benade said all their fire stations were at their highest alert possible because of the extremely dry weather conditions.
He said fire-fighting teams and a large number of planes and helicopters had been deployed to the affected areas.
Benade said dry weather conditions over the next two days (Monday and Tuesday) would not help in combating the fire.
