Cost to fight Cape fires keeps rising

Estimated to be R3m so far

THE DEVASTATING fires ravaging mountains in the South Peninsula have cost the City of Cape Town at least R3 million since the blazes started on Sunday morning.

“This is costing us an enormous amount of money,” said Richard Bosman, executive director of safety and security “This will go on for another two days at least.”

Around 4pm yesterday, Table Mountain National Park incident commander Philip Prins said the flames were advancing towards Tokai forest, which was “a big worry”. “That’s the biggest problem and there’s not much we can do right now. The visibility out there has been very poor.”

Bosman said it cost R45 000 an hour to have two helicopters in the air. They are based in Newlands and the city pays a fixed monthly cost to lease them during peak fire season, as well as paying for flying time per hour.

Meanwhile, overtime costs are climbing as hundreds of firefighters have been working extended shifts to contain the fires.

About 3 000 hectares of land, including fynbos, have been affected by the fire raging on three fronts: above Tokai, Hout Bay and Noordhoek.

SANParks spokeswoman Tarcia Hendricks said the devastation of vegetation had extended to about 4 000 hectares.

She said the various teams had logged at least 200 flying hours, and dropped about 2 million litres of water over affected areas. The flying hour cost thus far was about R2.4m. Hendricks said four helicopters, two water bombers and a spotter plane had been in the area since Sunday.

Fire chief Ian Schnetler confirmed that the city’s resources had been stretched to the limit.

The city’s fire and rescue service, disaster risk management and environmental resource management staff and volunteers have been working with Table Mountain National Park, Working On Fire and the Volunteer Wildfire Services to battle blazes in five priority areas: Hout Bay, Chapman’s Peak, Clovelly, Lakeside and the Tokai Plantation.

An additional 250 Working On Fire firefighters have been brought in from other provinces.

SANParks confirmed yesterday that the fire that started near Boyes Drive above Muizenberg had spread and destroyed all vegetation in the Silvermine section of Table Mountain National Park. The office buildings, campsites and boardwalks in this area were at risk.

Hendricks said the fire in the Tokai Plantation had dislodged dangerous boulders that endangered firefighters.

While at least 30 houses were evacuated in Noordhoek, only five houses along Silvermine Road were damaged. The Tintswalo Lodge at the foot of Chapman’s Peak was also damaged.

JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, said they were trying to track down a man photographed flicking a lit cigarette onto the ground near a spot where the fires were burning. The image had done the rounds on Facebook after a user posted it on the website. DON’T expect traffic lights to be repaired in a hurry or potholes filled anytime soon.

Johannesburg Roads Agency employees are on strike – but they’ve undertaken there will be no violence or trashing of council property. The JRA was served with a notice to strike by the SA Municipal Workers Union on Friday.

The strike is the result of a dispute on three main matters: a demand for the introduction of a pay progression system in the JRA, starting with a once-off structural adjustment of salaries of all employees on certain levels; an increase in the travel allowance for inspectors from R4 500 to R8 500; and the removal of a depot manager in Region F.

The JRA board and management said they believed the three issues did not necessarily justify strike action as management had provided clear and viable processes that were currently under way to address concerns. –