STILL reeling from a devastating week-long bush fire in July that swept across 140kms of North East Cape farmland, killing more than a thousand head of livestock and leaving hundreds of people homeless, the drought-stricken region was again engulfed in flames at the weekend. Some 9600 hectares of veld were destroyed and several hundred head of livestock and game were killed in the Queenstown and Dordrecht districts before firefighters finally brought the runaway inferno under control on Saturday. A thick pall of smoke hung over the smouldering veld on Sunday when the weather had turned colder, but dangerous strong winds still swept through the area. Police Inspector Ursula Roelofse said the fire broke out on a farm near Dordrecht on Thursday from sparks from a power line downed by winds that reached 100kms an hour.