{"id":295757,"date":"2025-12-17T10:27:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T08:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/districtmailhelderberg\/?p=295757"},"modified":"2025-12-17T10:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T08:27:16","slug":"swift-firefighting-action-saves-somerset-west-properties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/districtmailhelderberg\/swift-firefighting-action-saves-somerset-west-properties\/","title":{"rendered":"Swift firefighting action saves Somerset West properties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The City of Cape Town&#8217;s Fire and Rescue Services confirmed that no property damage was incurred by a raging vegetation fire, which broke out along the R44 in Somerset West on Tuesday 9 December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to spokesperson Jermaine Carelse, firefighters mobilised after the blaze was reported via emergency call around 14:40. He said crews from Strand and Somerset West fire stations as well as the Wildland Strike teams from Sir Lowry&#8217;s Pass were dispatched to the scene, where vegetation near Bakkerskloof Road was well alight, with nearby houses in the vicinity of Bell Aire under threat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Two helicopters assisted with water-bombing the thick vegetation near the houses for about 20 minutes, from 15:20 to 15:40. Firefighters managed to protect the houses and extinguish the fire by 17:35,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;No property was damaged and the cause [of the fire] is still undetermined.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services successfully extinguished a vegetation fire along the R44 in Somerset West on Tuesday 9 December using firefighters from multiple stations and helicopter water-bombing, protecting threatened houses near Bell Aire with no property damage reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":295758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"63","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"60","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"90","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"1","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"1","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post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City of Cape Town's Fire and Rescue Services confirmed that no property damage was incurred by a raging vegetation fire, which broke out along the R44 in Somerset West on Tuesday 9 December. According to spokesperson Jermaine Carelse, firefighters mobilised after the blaze was reported via emergency call around 14:40. He said crews from Strand and Somerset West fire stations as well as the Wildland Strike teams from Sir Lowry's Pass were dispatched to the scene, where vegetation near Bakkerskloof Road was well alight, with nearby houses in the vicinity of Bell Aire under threat. \"Two helicopters assisted with water-bombing the thick vegetation near the houses for about 20 minutes, from 15:20 to 15:40. Firefighters managed to protect the houses and extinguish the fire by 17:35,\" he said. \"No property was damaged and the cause [of the fire] is still undetermined.\"","article_media_icon":"1","article_template":"news","author_byline":"","background_color":"","block_editor":"1","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"headline dummy text","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":["NEWS_JGfire_P1"],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[7874],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-295757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Swift firefighting action saves Somerset West properties | DistrictMail &amp; Helderberg Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services successfully extinguished a vegetation fire along the R44 in Somerset West on Tuesday 9 December using firefighters from multiple stations and helicopter water-bombing, protecting threatened houses near Bell Aire with no property damage reported.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/districtmailhelderberg\/swift-firefighting-action-saves-somerset-west-properties\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swift firefighting action saves Somerset West properties\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services successfully extinguished a vegetation fire along the R44 in Somerset West on Tuesday 9 December using firefighters from multiple stations and helicopter water-bombing, protecting threatened houses near Bell Aire with no property damage reported.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/districtmailhelderberg\/swift-firefighting-action-saves-somerset-west-properties\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DistrictMail &amp; 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According to spokesperson Jermaine Carelse, firefighters mobilised after the blaze was reported via emergency call around 14:40. He said crews from Strand and Somerset West fire stations as well as the Wildland Strike teams from Sir Lowry's Pass were dispatched to the scene, where vegetation near Bakkerskloof Road was well alight, with nearby houses in the vicinity of Bell Aire under threat. \"Two helicopters assisted with water-bombing the thick vegetation near the houses for about 20 minutes, from 15:20 to 15:40. 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