A pilot was killed when a helicopter assisting with firefighting operations crashed near Riversdale, bordering the Gracia Nature Reserve, on Tuesday.
A raging bush fire has ripped through a section of the Garden Route, destroying at least seven homes and several smaller structures.
Police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said George pilot Nico Heyns, 65, died in the crash, about 40km from Riversdale, at about 9.45am.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the pilot of a Working on Fire helicopter lost control of the aircraft while extinguishing the raging fires in Vermaaklikheid.
“[The helicopter] tumbled to the ground and crashed.
“There were no other occupants,” he said.
“Police had to arrange for the speedy removal of the body to save it from the fire that was engulfing the area.”
Helicopter owner Kishugu Aviation chair Trevor Abrahams said while the cause of the crash involving the Huey helicopter was unknown, the company’s team as well as Civil Aviation Authority investigators were conducting a probe.
Kishugu Aviation is contracted by Working on Fire and Heyns was an employee.
Heyns, a veteran pilot with more than 20 years’ experience, used to own Heyns Helicopter Service.
He was well known in the industry and was involved in fighting the 2017 Knysna and Plettenberg Bay fires which killed seven people and destroyed about 1,000 homes.
A second helicopter from Stutterheim was dispatched later on Tuesday to assist with the water-bombing operations.
Officials from surrounding municipalities have been roped in to assist with the fire.
At least 60 firefighters, 16 off-road vehicles with firefighting equipment, and about four fire engines were deployed.
Garden Route District Municipality spokesperson Herman Pieters said the fire started in the Vermaaklikheid area, about 50km from Riversdale, on Sunday, following unconfirmed reports of an Eskom power line fault.
He said the fire line was about 3.5km in length at midday on Tuesday and the primary objective was to ensure the blaze did not jump the roads.
The fire had split in two, with the blazes running parallel to each other on either side of the Duiwenhoks River.
One was heading in the direction of Stilbaai.
Pieters said about seven homes had been gutted as well as multiple smaller structures.
No-one had been evacuated at that point.
A fixed-wing water bomber had also been dispatched and the Western Cape had been asked to assist with two Oryx Air Force helicopters.
The Garden Route District Municipality comprises seven local municipalities – George, Mossel Bay, Knysna, Bitou, Oudtshoorn, Hessequa and Kannaland.
In addition to firefighters being sent from those areas, Working on Fire, farm watches, environmental affairs and the Southern Cape Fire Protection Agency were all assisting.
Working on Fire’s Lauren Howard said the heatwave across the Western Cape had been hampering efforts to control the fire.
The SA Weather Service released a weather warning for extreme heat, veld fire conditions and damaging winds.