Almost all the fires along the Garden Route have been extinguished, with mop-up operations under way to determine the damage left in their wake.
Since the start of the bush fires about three weeks ago‚ more than 92‚000ha of vegetation, as well as properties, has been destroyed.
By late Tuesday evening, all the fires on the Garden route area were deemed to be 90% contained, with some areas smouldering in Diepwalle, Kransbos and valleys at Jonkersberg.
Garden Route District Municipality spokesperson Herman Pieters said the recent rain had assisted fire-fighting efforts, but teams were still in place to douse any flare-ups.
He said several teams would be sent back to their area, including the four Working on Fire teams from Cape Town who needed to head back and prepare for the looming fire season.
The Overberg and West Coast District Municipality firefighting teams have also left.
“The eight additional teams from the Free State will remain in the area to assist with mopping-up operations until next week Wednesday,” Pieters said.
He said Disaster Management’s joint operations centre would be in operation until Thursday when a reassessment would be done.
About 20 homes and structures such as sawmills on pine plantations were damaged or destroyed.
About 2‚000 people have been displaced‚ some during precautionary evacuations‚ while the death toll stood at nine – including six children.
Resources to fight the blazes included several spotter planes‚ helicopters‚ an SA Air Force chopper‚ three water-bombing planes and more than 600 firefighters at some stages.
Working on Fire’s spokesperson, Nthabiseng Mokone, said by Wednesday, about 80% of the fires in the Tsitsikamma area had been contained, with some flare-ups and smouldering in the Coldsream, Storms River, Witelspeak, Woodlands, Newrest, Thornham and Boskor areas.
She said Working on Fire’s teams were also packing up, though some would remain for mop-up operations and monitoring of flare-ups.
Structures damaged included the Storms River walkway at Petroport, the Lookout tower and the Witelsbos and Kwaaibrand water supply lines.
“Areas with no water due to the damage done by the fire are getting water supply from the municipality,” Mokone said.