Cape Town - Working on Fire ground and aerial resources in the Western Cape have battled 63 fires affecting over 100 000 hectares of land since the start of the year.
Of the 63 fires, 42 were recorded in January, and this is where more than 130 000 hectares of forests and vegetation were burned, the organisation said.
“Some of these fires had the potential to wreak havoc and have adverse consequences, as they threatened community members and sometimes their livelihoods.
“WoF aerial resources spent 450 hours making close to 3 000 water drops, dousing flames and assisting in bringing most of these fires under control in the past two months, enabling ground crews to move in swiftly to fight more manageable flames. In most of these fires, some teams were flown to the scene when it was impossible to reach (it) by vehicle. Teams were trooped 22 times to be able to fight fires in inaccessible mountainous regions,” the organisation said.
Some of the fires include a Bitou fire that raged for several days in Gouritsmond, in the Garden Route district, and a Hansekop fire that originated in Grabouw, in the Overberg, and managed to spread into Cape Town, where it raged near Sir Lowry’s Pass in Somerset West.
Another fire that had the potential to cause major destruction was reported in the Kluitjieskraal plantation near Wolseley, in the Cape Winelands region.
Working on Fire is an expanded public works programme that aims to provide work opportunities to young men and women, and is focused on integrated fire management in South Africa.
Cape Times