Largest number of firefighters at Knysna ‘in SA history’
FIRES that devastated Knysna and Plettenberg Bay resulted in the largest convergence of firefighting personnel and resources at one incident in South Africa’s history.
This is according to Working on Fire (WoF), which said yesterday the cost of the devastating fires so far has amounted to about R3.6 million. Deadly fires ravaged the area for nearly a week earlier this month.
The fire started in Knysna and later spread to towards the Plettenberg Bay airfield, and George, where five firefighters sustained minor injuries.
Residents of 20 suburbs had to be evacuated, and tallies conducted in Knysna’s epicentre alone showed 408 properties were destroyed.
Seven people perished, including volunteer firefighter Bradley Richards, and a mother and her child who both succumbed to the fire.
The province sent 1 109 firefighters, and WoF sent 485 of its firefighters from the Western Cape, North West, Free State, Eastern Cape and Gauteng to the area.
WoF provincial spokesperson Lauren Howard said: “Multiple fires engulfed the coastal towns of Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Sedgefield and George from Wednesday, June 7, 2017, which led to the Knysna Municipality having to evacuate several communities from their homes.
“Working on Fire played a significant role in these firefighting efforts.”
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell’s spokesperson JamesBrent Styan said, according to department experts, the fires led to the largest deployment ever of firefighters to one incident in the country. “This disaster saw the largest Incident Management Team dealing with a Type 1 incident. No other incident in South Africa has been classified as a Type 1 before. A total of 1 109 firefighters were deployed to fight the fires,” Styan said.
Earlier this week, hundreds of motorbike riders and firefighting vehicles rode in procession from Sedgefield, through Knysna to Plettenberg Bay in honour of Richards. Money collected from riders will go towards a new firefighting vehicle, which will be named after him.