Hundreds battle Cape inferno
WATER-bombing helicopters and firefighters worked relentlessly yesterday to bring under control a large wildfire encroaching on the historic Lourensford Estate owned by retail magnate Christo Wiese.
The wine farm‚ founded in 1700‚ is among properties threatened or damaged by an inferno that has been raging for the past three days around Somerset West.
The four-star Bezweni Lodge was gutted during the week‚ as the fires caused damage worth an estimated R50-million.
Wiese said yesterday the blaze was raging in an area above his property‚ surrounded by the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland mountains. Wiese is dreading a repeat of a blaze seven years ago that gutted his pine trees‚ resulting in losses of up to R12-million.
“With the fires you never know‚” he said. “Unfortunately it got out of control again last night because the wind came up, but we have fire fighters‚ fire trucks‚ helicopters. So they are fighting very hard.
“That is why it doesn’t seem as if there is a threat to human lives or even to the orchards. Fortunately the wind died down a little bit a few hours ago.”
Lourensford Estate was once part of Willem Adriaan van der Stel’s Vergelegen – the country’s oldest wine farm that was also damaged by the blaze this week.
Vergelegen chief executive Don Tooth said that 40% of the wine farm was burnt within a 12-hour period due to winds of more than 100km/h fanning the flames.
The mayoral committee member for safety in the City of Cape Town‚ Jean-Pierre “JP” Smith‚ said a fourwheel-drive firefighting vehicle had also been destroyed.
Explaining efforts this week to contain the blaze‚ he revealed that:
240 firefighters were involved;
Working on Fire‚ City of Cape Town biodiversity management firefighting staff‚ Wildfire Volunteer groups and the Fire Protection Association were also assisting;
33 city firefighting vehicles had been deployed to help douse the fire;
There had been no loss of life or humans injured‚ other than firefighters suffering from smoke inhalation;
Large numbers of animals had been rescued‚ including horses‚ baboons‚ snakes‚ tortoises and deer;
Seven structures were destroyed‚ including one dwelling‚ Bezweni Lodge and outbuildings; and
Just over R51-million worth of damage had been identified so far.
Further fires may break out at the weekend, Weather South Africa has warned.
It said “extremely high fire danger conditions are expected in places over the Cape metropole as well as southern parts of the Cape winelands of the Western Cape”. Adding to the risk of flare-ups in the Cape was a predicted strong south-easterly wind and no probability of rainfall predicted until at least Wednesday.
The weather service also issued a warning that “heavy rain leading to localised flooding is expected over the western part of North West‚ extreme north-eastern part of the Northern Cape‚ western and southern parts of Free State and south-western part of KwaZulu-Natal”. — TMG Digital