Police rubbish arson claims in Garden Route

[caption id="attachment_207564" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Up to 10 000 residents were forced to flee their homes in Knysna overnight as fires fuelled by storm winds ripped through the Western Cape coastal town. Photo: Deneesha Pillay/The Herald[/caption]

Southern Cape police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie rubbished reports of arsonists being behind the devastating fires in the Garden Route.

A voice note was circulated on several social media groups of a man claiming that suspects had been caught red-handed setting fires.

"There is no truth to this and it is causing even even more panic in a time where there is already widespread panic," Pojie said.

He said at this stage the cause of the fires which raged between Plettenberg Bay and Mossel Bay were still unknown.

“Authorities are actually busy with investigations and even forensic dogs will be brought in to get to the bottom of what caused the fires," he said.