“The fire just came too fast” – these words were repeated over and over on Tuesday by the shell-shocked residents of the Karatara settlement where eight people died the day before.
It is believed the victims – including six children – all died of smoke inhalation after they were trapped in a blazing house while evacuations were under way.
The wildfires left burnt-out cars, dead chickens and destroyed houses in its wake.
Police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said the eight victims died in a house in Lang Street, Farleigh.
They were identified as Elsabe Windvogel, 42, Andrea Bewee, 21, Eljade Windvogel, 12, Nalaya Oelf, 5, Niah Oelf, 3, Ethan Windvogel, 2, Aliyah Oelf, 13 months, and Nalani Oelf, 11 months.
Last week, veteran helicopter pilot Nico Heyns, 65, died when his aircraft crashed near Riversdale during firefighting operations, bringing the total number of deaths since the blazes started to nine.
A five-week-old baby also narrowly escaped death on Monday after suffering severe smoke inhalation as devastating blazes swept through huge swathes of Sedgefield.
The fire, just one of several which broke out between George and the southern regions of the Eastern Cape – including the Tsitsikamma area, was fanned by near gale-force winds.
In Farleigh, the devastation was stark on Tuesday – about eight homes razed in one street alone.
Abandoned dogs wandered around the ruins, lost, tired, hungry and thirsty. Dead chickens littered the area.
The vegetation surrounding the hamlet was reduced to cinders and smouldering fires were evident all around the hilly terrain. Residents told of their terror as the fire approached their homes, forcing them to rally together to effect an impromptu evacuation.
They used bakkies and every available vehicle to get people out.
Carlos Isaacs, who shares a home with Priscilla Lukas, said they lost their home and all its contents in the fire.
“It was terrible. I only managed to get my phone out,” he said.
Mother-of-two Nadia Willeman, tightly clutching her fiveweek-old son Nazeer-Henry Nazeem to her chest, described the fire as terrifying, devastating and life-threatening.
“The fire just came so fast,” she said.
“My child suffered very badly from smoke inhalation, so we had to evacuate and get him to a hospital as fast as possible.”
Dozens of residents who were evacuated from the area, packed a municipal community hall in Sedgefield, where a number of volunteer groups, including NGO Rebuild Eden, which was involved in assisting the victims of last year’s fires in Knysna, rallied together.
The victims were supported with food, clothing, a place to sleep and other necessities.
Rebuild Eden volunteer Lesley Langham said at least 160 people were being assisted.
Rudi Louw, who is related by marriage to some of the people killed in the fire, said they were very saddened by the tragedy.
“They just could not get out in time,” he said.
“The fire was too fast. It was the smoke that caused the deaths and not the fire itself.”
He and his parents, Anne and Willem, also narrowly escaped disaster.
“The fire was in the ceiling of our house, but we managed to get in there and put it out.
“So we only have partial damage from the fire and are very grateful for that.
“It was a terrible thing – it [fire] moved really fast. It came quite unexpectedly.”
The residents said they expected to be accommodated in the community hall for the next two to three days, after which they would return to their properties and try to rebuild their lives and homes.
Roads in the wider region were periodically closed to traffic on Tuesday as palls of smoke and massive flames near the roadside made travelling through the area extremely perilous.
Scores of firefighters, emergency workers, animal welfare employees, emergency medical workers and policemen and women saturated the region, where desperate attempts were being made on Tuesday night to bring the fires under control.
SANParks, which rallied to the assistance of employees and retirees in Bosdorp and the adjacent Farleigh area, evacuated those most affected by the fire to their Ebb and Flow resort in Wilderness, while the remaining residents congregated at the municipal community hall in Sedgefield.
The authorities were running their fire-fighting efforts and community rescue operations from a large Joint Operations Centre at a community centre in Karatara.
A spokesperson there – who had been at the scene since 1am on Monday – said officials were monitoring the fires closely.
SANparks spokesperson Janine Raftopoulous said a total of 17 dwellings had been lost in the fires.
Raftopoulous, who expressed deep sadness at the loss of life, said the organisation was doing all it could to assist those affected by the fire and the relatives of those who had died.