Cape Town - It’s too early to say what caused the spate of wildfires which led to such devastation including the death of veteran pilot Hendrik Willem “Bees” Marais, but Table Mountain National Parks has appointed a wildfire investigator to get to the bottom of it.
Investigator Rob Erasmus from Enviro Wildfire Services has already started his investigation and this morning will hike up to where the fire started in Peck’s Valley in Muizenberg 10 days ago. “We’ll be using a scientific technique to look at how it started and will be tracing the fire back from various points.”
Erasmus said there may have been different ignition points. “There is any number of possibilities and at this stage no one knows.”
He estimated it would take five to six hours to determine exactly where the fire started. The team will also need to determine which fires were linked to the original one and which were separate.
Erasmus said the Scarborough fire, for example, had already been found to be intentionally set. “It was malicious. We found where it had been set and it is being investigated.”
The City of Cape Town has also appointed forensic expert David Klatzow to investigate the fires.
With the fires largely contained, teams have started mopping up operations and assessing the damage. Yesterday several scorched snakes were spotted among the charred landscape in Tokai Forest.
In sections of the once lush expanse of green vegetation lay uprooted and blackened trees. The forest’s popular mountain biking trails will be off limits for some time.
The Wood Owl Guest Cottage in Tokai Forest was completely gutted. A skeleton of bricks with mangled glass and burnt-out contents including a fridge, TV, gas cylinder and bedsprings is all that remains.
Meanwhile, Grant Newton, Groot Constantia marketing and sales manager, said while the fire got into the vineyards at the estate, damage was minimal and the vines that were scorched had been harvested.
The contents removed from the old Manor House at Groot Constantia, which is an Iziko Museum, as a precaution, are still in safe keeping.
Cape Argus