A suspected arsonist was arrested on Friday afternoon not far from the blaze that had been raging across the Oudekraal area on the Cape Peninsula since early on Friday morning, Working on Fire spokesperson Val Charlton said.
She said a member of the public spotted the man trying to start a bush fire and alerted South African National Parks (SANParks) personnel, who apprehended him and took him to a police station.
She did not know if the man was linked to the Oudekraal fire.
SANParks spokesperson Fiona Kalk confirmed the arrest.
”We’re definitely going to pursue it. We’re going to charge him, most definitely,” she said. ”We commend the member of the public who raised the alarm, and we again ask people to report suspicious behaviour or suspected fires.”
Charlton said the Oudekraal blaze had been contained, but the fire that broke out in the Bain’s Kloof area of the Boland on Thursday was still ”fairly serious”.
It had already burned about 9 000ha, most of it fynbos, and was burning between the kloof and Groenberg towards the north-west.
An Mi8 and a Camel helicopter had been water-bombing the fire the whole day, and there were about 80 firefighters on the ground.
She said some farms had been at risk on Thursday night, and she understood some cattle were lost to the flames, but by Friday afternoon the fire was ”quite high up in the mountains”.
A fynbos fire at Gordon’s Bay had been contained by Friday afternoon.
Charlton said Working on Fire was bringing several firefighting teams from KwaZulu-Natal down to the Cape to relieve weary firefighters there.
She said the strong south-easter that had fanned the flames over the past two days was set to continue, and there was a constant danger that smouldering coals in areas where flames have been extinguished would flare up again.
For this reason, firefighters had to be deployed ”all along the line” of burned-out areas, she said. — Sapa