Cape Town - The strong south-easterly winds which have blasted the city all week, and which propelled the blazes which caused widespread damage, will continue this weekend.
Hundreds of firefighters from across the country have been deployed to the Western Cape to battle the fires which have ravaged parts of the province, including 3 000ha of veld on the Lourensford and Vergelen estates in Somerset West.
Six helicopters water-bombed the fire on Friday, but later, as gale-force southerly winds came up, the choppers were grounded.
A spokesman for the Vergelegen Estate said that about 40 percent of the estate had been destroyed – most of it veld – although some vines were affected. Parts of the estate were closed to the public on Friday, and this weekend’s Lourensford Market has been cancelled in case there are flare-ups in the area.
Lebogang Mashile, South
African Weather Services forecaster, said strong south-easterly winds were expected to blast the city over the weekend, peaking at 45km/h between 10am and noon today.
The Table Mountain Cableway closed shortly before 7pm last night due to high winds and heavy cloud cover on the summit of the mountain. At noon on Friday, the Robben Island Museum cancelled all tours to the island because of the deteriorating weather.
Lourensford Wine Estate is owned by billionaire retail tycoon Christo Wiese, ranked by Forbes magazine as the second wealthiest person in South Africa, and the third wealthiest person in Africa.
Seven years ago, Lourensford suffered damages estimated at about R12 million after a fire destroyed vineyards, fruit trees and orchards.
On Friday, Wiese said: “With the fires, you never know. Unfortunately, it got out of control again (on Thursday) night because the wind came up, but we have firefighters‚ fire trucks and helicopters. So they are fighting very hard. That is why it doesn’t seem as if there is a threat to the human lives or even to the orchards.
“But they are battling it very hard. Fortunately, the wind died down a little bit a few hours ago,” he told Times Live .
Don Tooth, managing director of Vergelegen, was in a meeting when Weekend Argus attempted to contact him, and Wiese was unavailable for comment at publication time last night.
Lourensford Estate tweeted to express its gratitude to the firefighters: “Thank you to the heroes who battled the blaze last night & restricted it to the uppermost sections of our estate.”
The fire, which has been raging since Tuesday on several fronts and supported by hot dry winds, also destroyed at least 1 350 wooden sleepers supporting the railway line between Caledon and Grabouw.
Friedel Adams, a firefighter for Transnet, said workers had been replacing the wooden sleepers with concrete sleepers. The line has been closed.
Lauren Howard, spokeswoman for Working On Fire, said firefighting teams from the Department of Environmental Affairs had arrived in the province late on Friday to assist local teams fighting multiple fires.
There are now six teams, with a total of 150 firefighters – including three from Working on Fire in the Eastern Cape and three from the Free State – battling the blazes.
Theo Layne, the City of Cape Town’s fire and rescue spokesman, said its 120 firefighters would monitor hot spots.
Changing winds meant it was hard to predict where the flames would next flare up, so firefighters remained on standby.
Firefighters at the Lourensford Wine Estate fire in the early hours of on Friday morning. Pictures: Lochner Slabbert
The fire at Lourensford Wine Estate has been raging since Tuesday. The estate has thanked firefighters for their effforts.