Melanie Gosling
FIREFIGHTING helicopter pilots Fred Viljoen and John Mittelmeyer have criss-crossed the peninsula over the last four days, helping fight a blaze they said appeared as it if “wanted to burn”.
The two Working on Fire pilots landed at Table Mountain National Park’s Newlands station after seven hours in the hot seat and made for the air-conditioned hut. “When you fly over the fire you can smell it, you can feel the heat. The line across Constantiaberg was incredible,” Mittelmeyer said.
But with the heat of the fires and some of Cape Town’s hottest weather ever, the pilots cannot lift a hand for a cooling drink while in the air. They need all four limbs – hands and feet – working the controls.
Pilots train to fight fires, but say much of it comes down to gut feel and teamwork.
“And we really get tested, because no two fires are the same,” Viljoen said. “We’ve got to judge a whole lot of things, height, speed, wind speed and then release the bucket.”
As they filled in the paperwork, Stevie the parrot climbed from one to the other. He lives in the pilot’s hut and has become their mascot.
The pilots are directed where to go by a spotter plane in the air, which liaises with teams on the ground. The pilots say the choppers cool the fires down so the ground teams can get in with hoses.
When they tackle a fire from the air, they target whatever poses the greatest danger to lives or property. “Flying over Tokai you could see the red of the flames in the green. It was as if it wants to burn. With the heat and the wind, this fire was running.”
The pilots can take water from any point, but say not everyone is always happy about that. Viljoen said in the past he has had a farmer stand at his dam with a gun.