[imagesource: Stellenbosch Municipality / Twitter]

As of Sunday, it was officially a week since firefighting teams started battling a raging blaze in the mountains and veld above Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.

An estimated 13 600 hectares have been affected by the fire.

Thanks to the hard work of firefighters, the blaze is for the most part under control.

According to IOL, there are still fires burning on the peaks of Bothmaskop through to Jonkershoek, but on mostly inaccessible terrain.

Because of the risks of attempting to get teams up there, caused by that inaccessibility and low visibility as a result of heavy cloud coverage and smoke, no action has been planned.

It is hoped that the fire will burn out naturally, says Cape Winelands District Municipality spokesperson Jo-Anne Otto.

“The firefighting and ground teams, assisted by purpose-built vehicles, will be deployed to hot spots in the accessible Jonkershoek areas, where they will continue with the management of flareups, monitoring and mopping-up operations,” Otto said.

Videos and images from various regions affected by the fire show the extent of the blaze.

Make sure the sound is on for this one:

It’s heartbreaking to think of the habitat loss. #Stellenbosch #Fire pic.twitter.com/xY8qU1hqoB

— Preanna (@preanna_11_11) February 26, 2021

Keep these men and women in your thoughts tonight. They will continue to battle the blaze in the Jonkershoek mountains. Donations of needed items welcome! Please see our pinned tweet. pic.twitter.com/b1AX5p8qGm

— Stellenbosch Municipality #MaskUp 😷 (@StellMun) February 26, 2021

Franschhoek fires smoke over Somerset West and N2 #franschhoekfires #franschhoek pic.twitter.com/mofK6yyqAL

— Christina’s Word (@christinas_word) February 26, 2021

The aftermath of the fire in Jonkershoek:

In just a week, the fire spread to three municipalities.

Emergency and rescue services are on standby in high-risk areas.

[source:iol]