Knysna blaze under control
More firefighters join in efforts to battle blaze
Raging fires in Knysna, Western Cape, claimed the life of a sixth person on Saturday when a 63-year-old man died after being trapped.
Knysna police have opened an inquest docket for further investigation following the death of John Blaauw from Hornlee at about 3pm.
Captain Malcolm Pojie said the preliminary investigation suggested Blaauw was a driver who was transporting workers near Windheuwel‚ Concordia‚ when they were trapped by the raging fire.
“In an attempt to flee the fire‚ he got engulfed in it and subsequently died due to extensive degree of burning wounds sustained‚” Pojie said.
He said postmortems would be conducted on the bodies of the six victims to determine the exact cause of death.
The municipality said yesterday the fires were largely contained. It said there were two priority areas to deal with – one of which is Concordia‚ where the fire was currently burning towards the informal settlement.
The municipality said tankers were being deployed to this area.
Another is Sedgefield‚ where firefighers started a “back-burn” that would reduce the risk of fires on the N2 towards Goukamma.
The municipality also said there was no need to evacuate anyone yesterday morning.
There were 300 additional firefighters from Working on Fire‚ who arrived on Thursday to assist in fighting the fires in Knysna.
There were also teams from Cape Town and the surrounding towns.
Another team of firefighers from Potchefstroom would arrive in George‚ about 60km west of Knysna, which also experienced fires‚ Working on Fire said.
Earlier, James-Brent Styan‚ spokesman for Western Cape local government MEC Anton Bredell‚ said aircraft – both water-bombing choppers and fixedwing spotter planes – were airborne shortly before 9am as the fog and smog lifted and cooler weather moved in over the Eden district.
“With wind speeds dropping‚ conditions are improving for aerial support‚” he said. “The wide range of firefighting agencies were dispatched from the Incident Command Centre in the Knysna Municipality‚ working closely with the Eden District Disaster Management Centre.”
Styan said that divisions had held the line on Saturday night – holding the flames back – to protect Rheenendal village and Wit Lokasie settlement.
“Confirmed fatalities at this stage for the Eden District is six‚ including one firefighter. Fire commanders confirmed that no losses had been suffered in Buffalo Bay‚ and some fires yesterday were deliberate back-burns to protect the town from runaway flames.”