The Helderberg Mountains have been on fire over the last five days, but thankfully, rain has started to fall, helping the 120 fire and rescue teams working to contain it.
Somerset West, South Africa (13 June 2022) – Over 120 fire and rescue teams have been deployed to the frontline of the Helderberg Fire. The fire started last week Wednesday and was spread by strong winds over the weekend. The teams are feeling hopeful as the weather indicates coming rains which will be a big help.
Summer is the fire season for the Western Cape, these fires spread due to high heat and winds. Cape Town had a slight heatwave last week, which could have contributed to the fire. A second fire season takes place in the winter, this one linked to families desperate to stay warm.
Fire and rescue services have been on the frontline of the fire along the Helderberg mountains, which started at the Lourensford Estate. Ronaldo Duncan, a firefighter at Sir Lowry’s Pass Fire Station, shared with IOL yesterday that the team could only hope to contain a mountain fire but were happy to see the weather forecast for rain.
“The thing about a mountain fire in my experience, is that we can try our best to contain it and manage it but it’s difficult to extinguish it. We know the weather report says there will be rain coming in the next 24 hours and that will assist us drastically in the situation,”
The NCC Environmental Services announced this morning that their teams are no longer on the frontline, thanks to the rain.
“All our crews are now off the line thanks to the rain that arrived yesterday evening. This is hopefully the last large fire for the next few months. Afis Csir shows no active fire-lines this morning. Let’s hope it stays that way.” – NCC Environmental Services
The teams come from all corners of the Western Cape, which include,
- Working on Fire,
- CapeNature Reserves,
- Volunteer Wildfire Service
- NCC Environmental Services
- Cape Winelands District Municipality Fire and Rescue Services
- Stem in die Bos Ontbossing
- City of Cape Town Fire & Rescue Services
Please note that the Helderberg Nature Reserve is currently closed to the public due to the fire affecting parts of the park.
“Fire entered the Reserve yesterday morning at about 07:30 and approximately 280 hectares has been burnt. We are currently busy with mopping up operations and starting to assess the damage to infrastructure. Ecologically the fire has not had a negative impact as much of the veld was mature and due for a managed ecological burn. We look forward to the flower displays that will come up during the springtime in the Reserve.” – Ald Eddie Andrews, Deputy Mayor and MMC Spatial Planning and Environment.
Let us know in the comment section if we have missed any of these heroic teams. Take a look at some of them below.
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