Report at odds with fire chief
New independent report contradicts fire chief’s findings on cause of Knysna fires
FORENSIC investigator Dr David Klatzow’s report into the cause of the Knysna fires differs greatly from the one released last week by Knysna fire chief Clinton Manual.
Manual said the fires were a result of human activity.
Klatzow, however, said the fire was sparked by a lightning strike in an indigenous forest in the Elandskraal area on April 12.
A lack of action – despite timely and repeated warnings given to the authorities – was highlighted yesterday when the independent report into the cause of the fires in June, which ripped through more than 300km of land in the Garden Route over two weeks, was presented.
Klatzow told a news conference he had conducted an investigation into a number of fires extending from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay. He was commissioned by AfriForum.
The fire smouldered for several weeks in a portion of the forest, until strong winds and hot air eventually fuelled a bigger blaze on June 7‚ he said.
Klatzow said there were several reasons why Manual’s report was incorrect, including that he had misquoted the position of the smouldering fire.
He said Manual misquoted statements from witnesses and was wrong in his notion that smouldering combustion could not have received enough fuel to develop.
“One should also never do an investigation where [one is] involved‚” Klatzow said, adding that this would result in a lack of credibility.
Speaking after delivering his report in Centurion‚ Klatzow said it was possible that Manual had been nervous about being in the firing line.
“But it was a massive fire and he did his best,” he said.
As strong winds fanned the Elandskraal blaze‚ another fire‚ most likely started by accident in the Dam-se-Bos area on the same day‚ had gained power.
Klatzow acknowledged that the Mossel Bay fires‚ however‚ were the result of arson.
“These fires were started on purpose. The police refused to investigate the allegations of arson that were lodged with the local AfriForum branch,” he said.
People protesting for houses in the area were found with petrol canisters.
Police had confiscated these but when they were later inspected‚ the petrol had “miraculously turned to water”.
Although Manual could not be reached for comment yesterday, he did address Klatzow’s claims during a media briefing about his own report on August 14.
Manual said he looked closely at the hypothesis that the fire had started as a result of a smouldering fire caused by a lighting strike earlier this year, but that there were several problems with this view.
One of the biggest issues, he said, was that when one looked at the wind patterns on the day of the disaster, the fire would not have travelled in a different direction.
Manual said he found clear indications that the Knysna fire had started in a clearing where it was apparent that people had made fires.
They had found pine cones – probably used as fire lighters – and stacked materials like planks. There were no pine trees in the area.
His report has been handed over to police for further investigation as it suggests the fire originated on private property.
Knysna municipal manager Kam Chetty said: “We have not seen the AfriForum report [so we cannot comment on it].”