A fire in the Humansdorp area of the Eastern Cape and three fires in the Tsitsikamma area were out of control on Monday night, Working on Fire (WOF) said.
”They are burning commercial timber and indigenous veld,” WOF spokesperson Val Charlton said at 7.30pm.
Charlton was worried that, with gale-force winds expected on Tuesday, the weather would fan the flames.
”Weather conditions are deteriorating,” she said. ”This represents major challenges for the firefighters. We expect things to get worse before they get better.”
Charlton said an expected cold front would bring respite to the Western Cape, where fires were raging on Table Mountain and near Villiersdorp.
But with another day before the front reached the Eastern Cape, the fires there would probably continue unabated on Tuesday.
Although a WOF helicopter had to turn back because of technical problems, six WOF crews of 20 people each and a WOF fire truck were in the Humansdorp district.
Humansdorp firefighter Andre Smit said 9 000ha of an 11 000ha pine forest and about 15 square kilometres of farmland had already been burnt near Thornhill between Port Elizabeth and Jeffrey’s Bay.
The fires had not been contained, added firefighting coordinator Stanley Baartman, who said they were moving over the mountains in an easterly direction towards Uitenhage.
”The priority now is the fight the front end of it,” he said.
Charlton said the fire on Table Mountain had been burning since Friday.
”It started in Hout Bay and has now gone up the back of the mountain.”
This fire was not ”actually detrimental”.
”Fynbos can do with a fire,” she said.
However, the fire had taken hold of some indigenous forest, which could take years to recover.
”The problem down here is the weather. It’s very windy and quite hot.”
Charlton said that although a fire had also been reported in Mpumalanga, no details were available. — Sapa