STEVEN MANN & AFP, Cape Town | Thursday 11.00am.
FIRE fighters on Thursday said they were winning the battle to contain the series of blazes which have wreaked havoc in the Cape Peninsula over the past few days.
All roads had been reopened and people who had been evacuated were able to return home, disaster management spokesman Johan Minnie said.
Four fires were still burning but residential areas were not immediately at risk, he said.
Fire fighting efforts were concentrating on the areas of Capri Village, Simon’s Town, Silvermine and Glencairn.
Unconfirmed reports said that fires had also flared up again in the Constant Neck area.
An aerial reconnaissance shortly after dawn on Thursday showed that fires were burning in five areas of the South Peninsula but they posed no threat to property, spokesman Johan Minnie said.
Four army helicopters would on Thursday continue dropping 2000-litre loads of water on the remaining fires and smouldering coals, Minnie said.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota visited the area on Thursday and praised the work done by the fire fighters.
“The combined efforts of the defence force and the fire fighters saved an incredible number of homes and properties that were threatened,” he said after flying over the area in a helicopter.
Cape Town looked like a war zone on Thursday. A thick smoke cloud hung over large areas of the city, and helicopters shuttled back and forth dumping water on the flames.
Miraculously there have been no deaths as a result of the runaway fires, and only one serious injury was reported — a woman burnt her foot and had to be hospitalised.
The Western Cape province, in the grip of an unusually dry and hot summer, has battled hundreds of fires since Saturday.
The flames have destroyed over 7500 hectares (18,525 acres) of vegetation, including the protected indigenous fynbos, and killed thousands of tortoises, ostriches and other animals, according to reports.