Cape Town - The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environments’ Working on Fire programme has dispatched more than 100 firefighters in the past few days in operations across the Western Cape.
A fire in the Overberg region took almost seven days to contain as firefighters battled to put the blaze out. Chief fire officer Reinard Geldenhuys said mop-up operations are currently under way.
“The biggest fire in terms of difficulty was the fire in Vyeboom, which started in a thick plantation area. We dispatched two helicopters, several ground teams and fire vehicles to that fire and we managed to get it under control over night, but a lot of hard work had to go into it.
“We’ve been deploying ground teams and volunteer fire units over the last week so that was completely extinguished,” Geldenhuys said.
Work on Fire has said that more than 100 firefighters were dispatched since the start of the holidays, including eight teams and six aerial resources to assist fighting fires in Overberg, Cape Peninsula and the West Coast.
Working on Fire spokesperson Limakatso Khalianyane said: “Three Huey choppers and a spotter were dispatched to assist the City of Cape Town and Table Mountain with fighting the Slanghoek fire.
“While on the West Coast, a Huey chopper, a spotter plane, and a water bomber responded to the Dasbosch fire, where they assisted the West Coast District Municipality and the Greater Cederberg Fire Protecting Association with the water bombing the fire,” Khalianyane said.
This year, operations have been busier than usual compared to the last two years where Working on Fire didn’t respond to any fires on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
Working on Fire has 23 aerial resources on standby, which comprise 10 spotter planes, nine Huey Helicopters and four air-tractor 802 water bombers.
The resources will be on standby at the Porterville, Stellenbosch, Newlands, Bredasdorp, Swellendam, and Denneoord air bases, to be able to respond promptly to fires when requested.
A total of 31 firefighting pilots have descended on the province and are on standby until the end of April 2022.