/ 10 February 2001

FIRE RAZES 18 CAPE BUILDINGS

A FIRE that raged from Thursday to Friday near Cape Town destroyed 18 buildings, officials said. It was brought under control Friday afternoon after firefighters from five stations in Cape Town were called in, said Cape Town Disaster Management Centre representative John Brown. He said about 160 firefighters and police were dousing the remnants of the fire at Gordon’s Bay, some 50km southeast of Cape Town. Cape Metro Disaster Management manager Jeff Laskey said the fire had been fuelled by winds of up to 100km an hour and swept over a mountain to the bay. At least 18 buildings were destroyed, one house was gutted and eight other houses suffered serious structural damage. Brown said the cause of the fire was not known and added that aside from two firemen who were treated for smoke inhalation, no-one was seriously injured. – AFP