Blaze burning back over mountain

Fires in South Africa

8 and 9 February 2010

published by www.iol.co.za

Fires rage on in the Cape

Wildfires continued to rage in the southern Cape on Monday with 180 veld and forest fire-fighters on the ground beating back flames at seven different blazes, authorities said.
The head of disaster management in the region, Gerhard Otto, said late on Monday afternoon that the fires had become worse rather than better.
“It’s hot, it’s dry, it’s windy and there is just no relief in sight,” he said.
The worst blaze was in Knysna where fire-fighters were working to save homes and businesses.
The fire was burning in timber, fynbos and old grass.
“Just about anything that can burn is burning,” said Otto.
In Plettenberg Bay, a similar fire was also threatening properties.
Helicopters from Working on Fire and the South African National Defence Force were water-bombing the blazes.
A disaster centre that could mobilise all emergency resources was opened in George on Monday morning.
The teams on the ground were made up of firefighters from the Eden district municipality, South African National Parks, CapeNature, the Working on Fire Programme and other organisations.
Another 180 firefighters from Working on Fire’s KwaZulu-Natal and Free State teams had begun arriving in the area to help.
According to Annelize Lamprecht, fire chief for Eden, there were also fires in the Haarlem area near George, in the Rheenendal area as well as two fires in Still Bay.
In the Boland, the Franschhoek Pass was closed to traffic on Monday morning because of a fire, and CapeNature warned motorists in a statement to stay clear of it.
It said the blaze, reportedly started by workers using an open fire to cook food, had burned about 4800 hectares of the Jonkershoek and Hottentots Holland nature reserves over the last four days.
CapeNature’s operations director Fanie Bekker said 160 firefighters from his organisation and the Cape Winelands district municipality had been called in.
By midday on Monday, the fire was approaching farms including Three Streams and Bordeaux.
Bekker said the hot weather and light wind meant thick smoke was covering the area, making it difficult for the helicopters to take to air.
“The cost implications are huge and have run into hundreds of thousands of rands, because of the extent of the fire,” he said. – Sapa

Blaze burning back over mountain

Firefighters are still battling a blaze in the Winelands started by a team of Working for Water workers who had been preparing food over an open fire in the veld.
The blaze flared up in the mountain gorges above Franschhoek’s massive new Theewaterskloof dam.
Danie Wilds, chief fire officer for the Cape Winelands District Municipality, said the fire had been ignited by the team clearing alien vegetation to increase water catchment.
They had apparently been cooking when the surrounding fynbos ignited.
Wilds said the fire had been fanned by a north-westerly wind, driving the blaze away from the town and back over the mountain.
So far no farms had been damaged, said Wilds. He was concerned that should the wind change to a south-easterly direction – the Cape’s prevailing summer wind – then farms back on the Franschhoek side of the mountain could come under renewed threat.
About 400km east, in Kynsna on the Garden Route, fires are closer to being brought under control today.
By Sunday at 6pm, about 500 hectares had been burned, including parts of the Phantom Forest, home to a number of tourism establishments.
A spokesman for the fire department said no buildings had been damaged so far.
A team of about 70 firefighters battled the large veld fire that blazed relentlessly since Saturday.
The Knysna fire department, as well as additional manpower from other departments, fought to contain the fire, which started on Saturday night above and below Rheenendal Road on the Phantom Pass area.
Knysna municipality community service director Charl Botha said witnesses had reported “a loud bang” at about 9.30pm to 10pm on Saturday.
He said the fire had raced through the surrounding dry veld.
The area where the fire blazed was not easily accessible and firefighters could only reach it by 3am on Sunday.
Botha said the fire had proven difficult to contain, and windy conditions in the area on Sunday had caused it to “spiral out of control”.
Two National Defence Force helicopters were at the scene to help contain the fire as well as 70 men from various departments, he said.
Botha added there had been no loss of life.
“There is an up-market area along Phantom Pass which the helicopters are constantly safe-guarding,” he said.

Botha said it was not confirmed what had caused the loud bang.