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Fires rages in Overberg
08-02-2006
The "worst fire in living memory" that started in Elim on Monday, raged in the Overberg area on Wednesday night, destroying a top guest lodge and fynbos nature reserves and threatening the coastal village of Die Kelders.
Martin Groos, owner of a wild fynbos farm, Farm 215 outside Die Kelders, said all the farms in the area had burnt.
He said: "It was the worst fire in living memory. It is under control in that everything has burnt."
Reinhard Geldenhuis, chief fire officer for the Overberg, said the main house and four chalets of the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, on the R43 between Stanford and Die Kelders, had been destroyed.
Grootbos is an internationally acclaimed award-winning five-star lodge. Britain's Sunday Times Travel magazine rated it one of the six best small guesthouses in the world. David Bristow, editor of Getaway Magazine, rated Grootbos as the best guest lodge in the country.
The Grootbos Foundation, which runs the reserve, is well known for its environmental and social development programmes. It is renowned for the restoration of the fynbos and for innovative local eco-empowerment projects.
After doing "a recce of the area" in a helicopter on Wednesday night, Geldenhuis said the fire was out of control on most fronts.
"There is still a 40km fire line," he said.
He said the fire had moved into Die Kelders yesterday afternoon and houses at the entrance to the town were evacuated until the blaze was eventually contained late on Wednesday afternoon.
Residents sprayed water on their homes and some stayed to protect their possessions from the approaching blaze. No houses were destroyed.
"We managed to put that flank out," said Geldenhuis.
George Schwegler, the owner of Bella Vista Lodge, also on the R43, said they fought three consecutive fires on Tuesday night until 4am.
"We thought it was over yesterday (Tuesday) morning and we were only putting out areas that flared up.
"But then the wind came up and the fire flared up again.
"It came so fast. Our distribution shed's thatch roof caught alight and it burnt down," he said.
Late on Wednesday afternoon Schwegler said it looked as though the fire had passed, but with the wind blowing strongly, it could flare up at any time.
"They think the wind will blow until Saturday so we have a challenging few days ahead.
"It's windy, smoky, my eyes are sore, my throat is sore, it is terrible here," Schwegler said.
Firefighters said they were "exhausted" as they'd been fire-fighting for 26 hours.
"The strong wind has been making it impossible for us," one said.
Val Deverson, owner of Fairhill farm, also on the R43, which has a private nature reserve, said the entire farm had burnt.
"It came right up against the buildings and vehicles but luckily they were not damaged."
She said the veld was just "soot", and they would begin to search for the eland, ostriches, grysbokke and other animals that lived on the farm "to see if any have survived".
Jill O'Sullivan, owner of the Cliff Lodge in Die Kelders, left her home with her four-month-old baby. Her husband remained to fight the flames. Elim farmers made fire-breaks and hosed sheds.
Geldenhuis said an SABC vehicle crashed into a fire engine and two passengers, one with eye injuries and the other with cuts and bruises, had to be taken to hospital in one of the helicopters fighting the blaze.
· Late on Wednesday night, Winelands District Municipality firefighters were battling a blaze in Michell's Pass in the Ceres valley.
A Ceres fire officer said the fire was burning over a large area and the entire Winelands team was at the scene.
As per IOL |
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