Daneel Knoetze, Yolisa Tswanya, Sibusisiwe Lwandle and Sapa
As hundreds of firefighters battle the blazes sweeping through the Boland between Franschhoek and Paarl, farmworkers – locked in a deadly race against the flames – are trying to harvest grapes and fruit.
Ten teams from across the country have been flown in to join the local firefighters on the ground, and a Code Red emergency has been declared, according to Peter Viljoen of CapeNature.
Linton Rensburg of Working on Fire said 10 teams had arrived, and that an additional 395 firefighters would have joined the 14 local teams by Wednesday.
“We are working around the clock. We have 10 helicopters and water bombers deployed.”
Working on Fire had contributed eight spotter planes and 37 pilots to fight the fires.
Over and above the serious fire in the Wemmershoek mountains heading towards Paarl, at least 43 new fires broke out in the past 24 hours.
Viljoen said the fires had been confirmed as the worst in this part of the province in years.
The blazes have taken their toll on firefighters – three were injured while battling a fire near Liesbeek Parkway, said Theo Layne, spokesman for the city’s Fire and Rescue Services.
Six firefighters were injured last week in the fire devastating parts of the Cederberg, and a man died. That fire is now under control.
Layne said of Tuesday’s fires around the city: “There were vegetation fires all over the place but there were no runaway fires. Two firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation and one had a back injury.”
Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell said the exhaustion of firefighters was a concern, and that authorities needed all the help they could get over the next 10 days.
The Wemmershoek fire blazed for a third day in the farmlands between Paarl and Franschhoek on Tuesday. Farmers, farmworkers, residents and firefighters battled the blaze through the night, and had little relief as the wind drove the flames towards Paarl.
By late afternoon, reinforcements from the Eastern Cape had arrived to relieve some of the local firefighters on call, Viljoen said.
Three helicopters and 10 fire engines were on the scene throughout the day.
Trees at the Freedom Hill winery burned near the tasting room and smoke from nearby fires hovered over the vines.
The winery has 18 hectares of cabernet, shiraz and pinotage grapes that are due to be harvested in the coming weeks.
So far the owners have been lucky, losing less than a hectare of merlot grapes, which are no longer used for wine. But the path of the blaze is unpredictable.
“We are very worried that it (the fire) will come back,” said tasting room manager Malisha Fortuin.
With blackened vegetation a stone’s throw away, fruit farm workers were harvesting plums while a helicopter was water-bombing a nearby fire.
On the ground, the livelihoods of scores of farmers hang in the balance.
Lugresia Baatjies, of Hartebeeskraal near Paarl, described how the fire swept down to farmworkers’ houses at about 7pm on Monday.
“It sounded like a thunderstorm when the flames came around the bend. It reminded me of a volcano in a movie. We just had to run, there wasn’t time to think about your possessions. It was all around us in no time.”
She fled with her family and took shelter in a church hall. Baatjies’ home was spared, but her neighbour’s house was gutted.
Frederick Diedericks showed the Cape Argus his burnt-out house on Tuesday. His furniture was in ashes, a VW Golf outside a blackened shell.
“All we could save were some clothes for the children, a mattress and a blanket. The fire simply spread too quickly,” he said.
Diedericks’s family slept outdoors as he helped other workers battle the blaze through the night.
Irrigation pipes siphoning water from mountain streams were burnt through, and firefighting was hampered by dwindling water supplies.
“Strong winds, soaring temperatures and poor visibility are making it difficult for firefighters to contain the fire,” said Liesl Brink of disaster management’s incident command post.
She said the situation was not yet under control on Tuesday afternoon.
So far, 7 200 hectares of vegetation, fynbos and farmland have been burnt and two buildings have been gutted.
At a press conference on Tuesday, chief director of the province’s disaster management centre Colin Deiner said 50 fires had required aerial support so far this year.
“The Cederberg and Limietberg areas have been the worst affected, with fires going for the past 14 days.”
Layne said determining a cause for vegetation fires was difficult, but confirmed that lightning was to blame for the Cederberg fire.
Temperatures are expected to range between the high 20 and 30°C mark and winds are forecast to reach 45km/h for the rest of the week.
Cape Argus