Cool and conditions moving over the northern parts of the country brought some relief on Wednesday for firefighters still battling veld fires in Mpumalanga.
Working on Fire (WF) operations manager Chris Austin said all but one veld fire in Mpumalanga, near Machadodorp, were under control by Wednesday afternoon.
”The weather has changed. It has become somewhat cloudy and there is a quite high moisture content in the Mpumalanga area,” said Austin. ”Generally, in the province things had calmed down considerably.”
Austin warned that the fire risk remains high in the northern parts of the country, where no rain is expected.
Earlier in the day, a fire that raged through the North West veld overnight was brought under control near the Vredefort Dome.
”We are still monitoring the situation, but the main fire was extinguished around 5am,” said Potchefstroom rural disaster manager Kobus Roux. ”The wind is down and the cool weather will help extinguish a series of smaller and isolated fires.”
The fire started along the Potchefstroom-Vereeniging road after a strong wind blew down power lines. On Tuesday, winds of 40kph were fanning the fire over a 30km area.
Austin said one of the Mpumalanga forest fires — contained on Wednesday — destroyed about 1 000ha of commercial timber.
According to a report by WF, firefighting teams were deployed in seven provinces overnight to help landowners contain various fires.
These include two teams in the Western Cape, three in the Eastern Cape, four in Gauteng, Limpopo and the Free State, and six in KwaZulu-Natal.
There are forty WF fire bases in South Africa, each with a 22-strong crew, selected from formerly unemployed people and trained by WF. — Sapa