Eight hostel buildings and about 150 shacks were gutted by a fire in Stellenbosch’s Khayamandi settlement on Thursday, the town’s assistant fire chief Bertie Brandsen said.
He said the fire, the third in Khayamandi in three days, was driven by a gale-force wind.
As far as he knew, no one was injured in the blaze.
”At the moment, we’ve got it under control,” he said shortly after 1pm. ”We’re damping down.”
He said fire engines from Stellenbosch, the Boland district municipality and the Cape Town metro fire station at Tygerberg were all summoned to fight the fire.
In the fires earlier this week, about 10 shacks were destroyed.
Meanwhile, other firefighters were battling a new blaze in mountainous farmland above the Overberg town of Napier.
”Right now, it’s out of control. It’s running on an easterly gale-force wind. We’re just protecting houses right now,” said Overberg fire chief Reinard Geldenhuys.
He said though the fire was not threatening the town itself, several farmhouses were at risk, and his firefighters were concentrating on protecting them.
A private firefighting contractor would be brought in to help.
He did not know the cause of the fire, but said it started in an area that had been cleared of alien vegetation.
Earlier, firefighters were still combating a fire between Pringle Bay and Rooi Els.
”The fire is not threatening the town of Rooi Els at this stage, but the mountainous area where it is burning now is making their task difficult,” said Overstrand municipality spokesperson Fanie Krige.
Apart from the 62 firefighters from the municipality and Cape Nature, two firefighting engines and several bakkie units were being used to combat the blaze.
”One of the engines is situated at a house on the Somchem land and the other one at Rooi Els, in case the situation turns for the worst,” he said.
The fire was reported on Wednesday morning. It started close to the Pringle Bay turn-off from the R44, where an electricity cable from Eskom was found lying on the ground.
Gale-force south-easterly winds drove the fire towards Rooi Els through a valley where the vegetation was dense.
As the terrain was difficult to traverse, fire chief Riaan Jacobs called for the help of helicopters, but none were available, Krige said.
Two timber houses burnt down and three more were seriously damaged in Rooi Els on Wednesday.
He said as far as it could be established, only one of these houses was permanently inhabited; by the municipality’s electrician, Dirk de Villiers, and his family.
They had lost almost all their belongings and a relief fund would be set up for them. — Sapa