Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service is currently battling a fire in Noordhoek, with helicopters having been called in to assist in firefighting efforts.
Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said that they received the call about reeds in the wetlands of Noordhoek which had caught fire at around 2.19pm today (Tues).
“Currently, 70 firefighters and 14 firefighting appliances are on scene. Helicopters have been requested to water bomb the area.
“The scene is ongoing. The cause of the fire is as yet unknown,” Carelse said.
House on fire after a what started out as a vegetation fire in Sun Valley, Fish Hoek. #CapeTown pic.twitter.com/PVWhk8H47z
— Quinton Mtyala (@mtyala) February 22, 2022
The City added that at this point it was unable to verify whether houses had caught alight, but that an update would be provided later.
In January, Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said that Western Cape Disaster Management had already provided support in 14 major wildfires and dozens of smaller fires at a cost of R10 million on firefighting this summer.
“The province works closely with municipalities, who also contribute accordingly towards these operations. Costs include the operation of 24 aerial units, ranging from spotter planes, at R4 000/hour, to the large Black Hawk helicopter, at a cost of R78 000/hour,” Bredell said.
Bredell said the fires in January had showed how effective it was deploying aerial resources, sooner rather than later.