Tsitsikamma fire still going, 80% contained

One of the raging wildfires in the Garden Route area has been contained while firefighting operations are still underway to contain a fire Tsitsikamma area.

Officials said that the two wildfires, in opposite sections of the Garden Route, were largely contained after fire fighters battled the blazes throughout the night.

The two separate fires were reported along the Garden Route, one in the Tsitsikamma area, bordering the Garden Route National Park (GRNP), and the other in the Vermaaklikheid area in the Western Cape.

The Vermaaklikheid fire started on Sunday and has already burnt through an area estimated to be about 500 square km.

The Tsitsikamma fire, which stated on Tuesday afternoon and is currently only 80% contained, borders the Garden Route National Park (GRNP) and is in the Lottering plantation area in Storms River.

On Wednesday, the national park was forced to temporarily close the Otter Trail and evacuate eight hikers when the fire appeared to have jumped into the park, affecting the hikers’ second section of the five-day hiking trail.

The plantation area is owned by MTO Forestry, which owns several pine plantations between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. MTO area manager Thinus Kok said that the fire was about 80% contained by Thursday morning.

“The bulk of the fire is now in the kloof area and we cannot get to it. We are working around the fire to contain that particular section,” he said.

“Due to the inaccessibility of one section of the fire, we have called for air support which we are hoping will arrive in the next day or so.”

Kok said that about 200 fire fighters and workers were battling the blaze.“It is a massive operation and obviously we are trying to minimise damage.

We are predicating either still fighting the fire or at a minimum monitoring it over the weekend – depending how containment efforts go. Fire breaks have been made to the West (Plettenberg Bay direction) so hopefully that will see the fire contained should it reach there.”

As a precautionary measure, Kok alerted Disaster Management who has set up a joint operational command centre to monitor the fire fighters progress.

“This is an entirely preventive measure. The aim is to do planning in the event that the fire does spread. We will look at drawing up various plans and delegating who is responsible for doing certain functions in the event that it is needed. It is merely a precaution to ensure we are prepared,” he said.

Working on Fire Lauren Howard said that the Vermaaklikheid was largely contained but the south-east fire line at the property of Koos Malan, along Blombos road, had flared up on Thursday morning.

“Aerial resources consisting of a Working on Fire huey helicopter, 2 (fixed wing) bombers and a spotter aircraft have been deployed to assist ground crews in extinguishing this flare up,” she said.“Other resources will be mopping up the north east fire line. A bulldozer is being used to cut a fire break around some homes in Vermaaklikheid.”

To date the Vermaaklikheid fire has seen nine houses destroyed, cellphone towers destroyed and a large area of wildlife grazing and fences damaged.

In addition, Working on Fire pilot Nico Heyns, 65, was killed during a helicopter crash about 40km from Riversdale on Tuesday.

Howard said that the weather forecast for Thursday is estimated to be 24°C with a South Westerly wind of 25 km/h.