Cape Town - More than 600 firefighters and volunteers are battling strong winds as they try and put out the deadly fires on the Cape's Garden Route which have already claimed the lives of two adults and six children under the age of 12.
Nearly 1 000 people from the Karatara area and around 200 people from the western side of Rheenendal had been evacuated had been evacuated as at 9 am on Tuesday morning. According to the Garden Route Municipality, evacuations in Rheenendal are still ongoing.
Since the start of the fire, 12 homes, various plantations, a sawmill, 4 structures on the Garden Route horse trails and three structures at Beervlei were gutted.
The municipality says strong winds are making back-burning as a means of fire control impossible, but some progress is being made on the smaller fires.
Below is a rundown on the status of the individual fire zones:
* KARATARA:
The fire has not been contained and the majority of the municipality's resources are currently deployed to this area.
* BERGPLAAS:
Mop up operations have yet to begin and the area is being monitored.
* DENNEOORD:
There has been a flare-up in the area which is being attended to.
* GARCIA PASS:
The fire has been contained and mopping-up operations are taking place.
* GANZEKRAAL:
A farm burned down on Monday night and a 3 km fire line is still active. Firefighters have been deployed to the area.
* WABOOMSKRAAL:
The fire has been contained and mopping-up operations are taking place.
* HEROLD:
The fire has been contained and mopping-up operations are underway.
* OPSOEK (Zoar):
An assessment is still in progress.
* JONKERSBERG:
The fire has been contained and mopping-up operations are taking place.
* GROOTVADERSBOS:
An assessment is still in progress.
* SAASVELD/BERGPLAAS:
The fire has been contained and mopping-up operations are taking place.
* DE HOOP NATURE RESERVE:
An assessment is still in progress.
* TOORWATER:
The fire has been contained and mopping-up operations are taking place.
* HARTEBEES AREA:
Firefighters are currently attending to this fire