Xolani Koyana
IN JUST two months, firefighters have battled 50 “intense” veld fires in the province and the latest between Glencairn and Fish Hoek had them battling for hours to get it under control.
About 75 firefighters from Table Mountain National Park, Volunteer Wildfire Services from Newlands and Working on Fire were still working last night to extinguish veld fires just above Glencairn Heights. Two helicopters were used.
Due to strong winds, the fire was spreading towards Fish Hoek. It started at around 11am yesterday and by 6pm it was still raging. Volunteer firefighters were putting out smouldering in some parts to prevent flare-ups.
Fire and rescue spokesman Theo Layne said the flames burnt “an extensive” amount of vegetation. At one point, the fire was about 300m from property in Glencairn Heights, but the wind was blowing it in the opposite direction towards Silverglade and Capri.
Layne said although the fire was burning on the slopes far from property, ground crews were on high alert behind houses in Glencairn Heights.
“Should it come down, we will be ready to deal with it. The helicopter is continuing the water bombing, but it is inaccessible to the ground crews. There are also south-easterly winds that are hampering the fire-fighting efforts,” Layne said
Working on Fire spokeswoman Liesl Brink said the organisation’s firefighters had barely finished extinguishing a fire on Signal Hill which had had started on Tuesday night, when they had to be diverted to Glencairn.
She said since September, they had fought fires across the province, including at some of the fire hot spots in the metro – Table Mountain, Kloof Nek, Hout Bay and Newlands.
“While many of them were caused by natural reasons, most were started through human negligence.
“Members of the public can help by being cautious when working with fire or open flames, and by calling the fire authorities as soon as they notice a veld fire.”
The organisation’s general manager, Shane Christians, said the summer fire season, between December and May, was well under way due to dry and windy weather conditions.