[imagesource: Twitter]
Cape Town’s firefighters managed to subdue a fire that started last week in Tableview.
However, Somerset West remained under siege, with emergency services personnel, animals, and private houses beginning to sustain damage after five consecutive days of fire.
As reported by Sowetan Live, several residents have been evacuated from their homes on the Erinvale Golf Estate, where firefighting efforts continued as flames ravage the area, stripping houses bare and decimating the foliage.
The blaze on the slopes of the Helderberg Mountain continued in spite of tireless firefighting efforts, and helicopters can only be deployed if strong winds, which spread the flames across the nature reserve, finally subside:
Thank you to the brave firefighters!! Fire right next to our house in Golden Hill. Please help the firefighters if you can, even if it’s just a bottle of water. Drop off at @Lourensford. #fire #HelderbergFire #helderberg pic.twitter.com/nwW7rWNsKd
— Collin Sherriff (@SherriffCollin) June 11, 2022
According to News 24, the inferno began in Lourensford last week on Wednesday and was exacerbated by the weather, which drove the flames in several directions:
#helderbergfire #fire #upperblaauklippen pic.twitter.com/IqGp9b6u3M
— Steve (@SteveGSwartz) June 11, 2022
Jermaine Carelse, the spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s fire services, indicated that the fire started in a copse of aged pine trees, and attributes the flames’ rapid spread to “a combination of mixed vegetation, unseasonably high temperatures and dry weather.”
Helderberg fire as seen from Stellenbosch mountain just after 8am Sat11June #fire #helderberg #wildfire #capetownfire pic.twitter.com/bGsrLsHUzs
— Wouter vd Heever (@wvdheever) June 11, 2022
EWN reported that twenty fire engines and upwards of ninety firefighters were on duty on Silverboomkloof Road on Sunday.
At least two firefighters have been hospitalised, according to IOL.
#HelderbergFire Over 200ha of land have been destroyed in the Helderberg Nature Reserve. @eNCA pic.twitter.com/g12LhAbPXa
— MoniqueMortlock (@MoniqueMortlock) June 12, 2022
Carelse had to ask residents to do their part by resisting the urge to behave like “fire tourists” and to give the area a wide berth while emergency services were at work.
Meanwhile, the citizens of Cape Town are holding their thumbs that the rain that started last night will help to subdue the flames and give firefighters a much-needed respite.
