Last week Paarlites again held their breath when Paarl Mountain was ablaze.
Eventually it took three fire-fighting helicopters to bring the blaze under control, once again at a cost of hundreds of thousands of rands.
But in the meantime, it has come to light that if the Drakenstein Municipality had accepted the offer of the Drakenstein Farm Watch (DFW) in the very early hours of the morning to assist with the blaze at it’s onset, much of these costs would have been saved.
For more than a decade now the DFW have on a voluntary base been battling incidents of crime, fires, accidents and more in the valley. They have through donations and membership fees set up a sophisticated fire-fighting and medical assistance team. At no cost whatsoever to the authorities.
And for years now the DFW has been trying to join forces officially with the municipality to assist in various emergencies. But to no avail.
If the offer of help had been accepted in the early hours of Thursday morning it would have curbed many costs. But the fire, instead, spiralled out of control, threatening properties and so on. With the help of the DFW this may well have been averted.
So why won’t the municipality establish such a crucial long-term collaboration? Is this once again an example of territorial pride exercised to the detriment of Drakenstein residents?
