A fire that has been raging over the Kammanassie mountain in the Karoo has spread to a nearby farmer’s property as heatwave warning has been issued
Firefighters have been battling to contain the blaze since it broke out on Sunday with crews from the Garden Route District Municipality, Capture Nature, Working on Fire and local landowners trying to prevent the spread of the fire.
Earlier this week the fire was estimated to be burning through 2 500 hectares of veld believed to be 26 years-old and was inaccessible for the first couple of days.
By Thursday afternoon, the municipality said the wildfire had been fuelled by after Wednesday night’s windy conditions causing it to spread.
“A Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) skid unit and 17 Working on Fire (WoF) ground crew are fighting the wildfire on the southern part,” said the municipality in a statement.
“On the western side, firefighters are attending to the wildfire spreading to a farmer’s property and infrastructure. Cape Nature firefighters are attending to another scene near a farmer’s property and WoF firefighters are currently stationed at the north-eastern scene close to two properties.”
The municipality said crews on the ground were expected to make inroads in the accessible parts of the mountain.
Meanwhile authorities are also on high alert as the South African Weather Service warned that the parts of the Western and Northern Cape were in for a heatwave which when coupled with dry conditions and strong winds could result in runway wildfires.
WoF has placed its ground and aerial resources in the West Coast and Cape Winelands on the ready, should they be required to respond promptly. Just last week, a team of more than 100 firefighters responded to a wildfire in Kleinmond which destroyed 5 417ha of vegetation and left one building burnt.