Western Cape Disaster Risk Management have already spent more that R10 million on firefighting this summer.
“Up to the end of January, we have already provided support in 14 major wildfires and dozens of smaller fires at a cost of R10,168 million to the provincial disaster budget. The province works closely with municipalities, who also contributes towards these operations. Costs include the operation of 24 aerial units, ranging from spotter planes, at R4 000 per hour, to the large Black Hawk helicopter, at a cost of R78 000 per hour,” said in a statement after receiving a status report from the Western Cape Disaster Management Centre on the current fire season in the Western Cape
Two fires razed large areas of vegetation on Michell’s Pass at the beginning of the week.
According to Jo-Anne Otto, a spokesperson for the Cape Winelands District Municipality (CWDM), firefighters responded to the fire at 16:40 on Sunday 30 January.
“Teams responded, but due to warm, dry weather the fire quickly burned upwards and jumped the road into the vegetation, starting a second fire,” She explains.
Severe smoke caused by the fire led to the pass being deemed unsafe for motorists.
“The fire caused a lot of smoke, and the pass was deemed unsafe for the public and the road closed. Fortunately, the fire teams were able to contain the left flank of the fire which reduced the smoke and allowed local authorities from Witzenberg Municipality to open a stop-and-go system.”
Late on Sunday evening the fire was declared contained, however, on Monday a flare up occurred.
“The whole fire was declared contained by late on Sunday night. on Monday ground teams reported several flare ups, and the fire reignited late on Monday afternoon, again causing a brief closure of the pass. In both fires air resources and ground teams from CapeNature assisted firefighting efforts.”
Ground teams from both CapeNature and CWDM remained on the scene throughout Tuesday to ensure no flare ups would occur and to contain all hot spots.
It took a large number of firefighters to get the fire contained.
“The number of fire and ground crews varied greatly, but at the height of the fire there were more than 60 ground crew members and firefighters, this number reduced to around 30 to 34 during mopping up operations. The Cape Winelands District Municipality applauds the assistance of both CapeNature and the various teams from Witzenberg Municipality’s Fire and Traffic Services,” Otto concluded.
At this point it is not yet known how the fire started or how many hectares were affected by it.
“The past month again showed us the effectiveness of deploying aerial resources sooner than later.
Although expensive, it often prevents small fires from growing into runaway wildfires which could ultimately result in serious damage to property and loss of life.
Prioritising aerial support plays a large role in our success rate of extinguishing 90% of fires within the first hour, before it can potentially become runaway and uncontrollable blazes.”
It would be impossible for individual fire services to deal with large wildfires, and especially if there are several at the same time.
Cape Winelands have over the past ten years developed a system where different firefighting units can quickly be coordinated into a dedicated and synchronised firefighting unit.
