Fires are now fully contained

THE Cape Winelands District Municipality’s fire services said the raging fires in the Franschhoek mountains were fully contained yesterday.

“The fire, which crept into the High Noon area over the weekend, has been fully contained. There are no fires on the Franschhoek side of the mountains. However, there were a number of unexpected flare-ups (on Sunday), all of which were briskly attended to,” said the municipality.

Demobilisation began yesterday, with a number of firefighters remaining on site to put out flare-ups and be on the watch for possible re-ignition due to the north-westerly wind preceding a predicted cold front.

“The rest of the crews will be involved in monitoring and mopping-up activities. The majority of firefighters will return to their bases to follow up with day-today operational requirements. The affected areas need to be free of all flare-ups, smoke, etc for a period of 48 hours before the fire can be considered extinguished,” said the municipality.

The Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Department said firefighting capability in the province had received a boost when Working on Fire’s aerial support fleet was bolstered by the arrival of a Blackhawk firefighting helicopter at the weekend.

“This is an incredible and very welcome addition to the existing aerial capacity that we have in the province.

“The Blackhawk was deployed to the Franschhoek fires over the weekend, upon its arrival in our province, and it made an immediate impact,” said Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell.

“The helicopter will be in the Western Cape till the end of the current fire season, and it will be based in Stellenbosch.”

He said the Franschhoek fires were contained thanks to the incredible efforts by all the partners and firefighters active in the region.