Forty-five familyies and 90 pupils have been evacuated as the Western Cape’s Tulbagh fire rages on.
|||A total of 45 families were evacuated on Tuesday and 90 pupils had to leave a campsite due to the fire that has been burning in the Tulbagh area since Saturday.
“We also had a few local farmers volunteer to help evacuate the families,” police communications officer Pieter Mouton said on Tuesday after firefighters evacuated families through the night and early on Tuesday morning.
The affected homes were all in Station Road on the outskirts of Tulbagh.
Mouton said there were elderly people as well as families with young children.
Smoke inhalation was the main concern as the frightened families were brought to stay in homes closer to town.
“You could barely see in all the smoke,” he said.
At the nearby Waterval campsite, 90 primary school children were also evacuated.
The veld fire started on Saturday and spread across the Waterval mountains, mainly affecting the government- owned pine plantation.
Working on Fire spokeswoman Leanne Mckrill said five teams were fighting the fire. “We have had five of our teams on the fire as well as four helicopters fighting the fire,” she said.
“Most stayed last night (Tuesday) and will be out until tonight.”
Cape Winelands Municipality fire services spokesman Roysten Harris said: “It (the fire) has destroyed 60 percent of the plantation, but no people are injured.”
Only one house was extensively damaged. The couple who lived there will move in with their son, who lives next door. “It was amazing to watch how quickly the house burnt,” Mouton said.
“I watched flames take over the entire back wall while they just passed over the son’s brick house next door.”
The R46 highway was closed for 90 minutes yesterday morning so that fire trucks could get through. Six firefighters suffered minor burns while battling the blaze.
The cause of the fire is unclear, but an investigation will be conducted.
Harris was unable to say how long it would take to put out the fire.
“If the weather stays the same we could be fighting this for two more days,” he said. - Cape Times
E-mail Avery: avery.carpenter@inl.co.za