South Africa is experiencing one of the deadliest instances of wildfires. As the wildfires continue to spread for a second day on Tuesday, January 30, the country was forced to carry out massive evacuation drives in and around the coastal towns of Cape Town.
Popular tourist destination, Pringle Bay which lies in the Overberg region of Western Cape, was fully evacuated, following the evacuation of nearby Betty’s Bay on Monday, January 29.
The fires have started spreading from the surrounding mountains, and although they are fairly common for the mountains in Cape Town and further down the coast during summer, total evacuation of towns is a rather rare phenomenon.
The blaze started on Monday and was set off by the hot and dry weather of the region; with the strong coastal winds further aggravating the situation.
South Africa Burning For Nine Days
The Overstrand municipality mayor confirmed that as many as six wildfires have engulfed the area in the past few days, with one headed straight towards Pringle Bay; the other four were safely put out and contained. The region has been put under “code red” to caution about the potential threat to life and property.
95% of a nature reserve has also been affected by the fire.
Helicopters have been deployed to combat the blaze using water from the nearby ocean. The Western Cape province has witnessed several wildfires over the past couple of weeks, with one fair burning for over nine days. The famous Table Mountain overlooking the South African capital was also set ablaze over the weekend, fortunately, it was quickly contained and prevented from causing further damage.
Currently four teams of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment are at work in in four regions of Western Cape.
As per the Western Cape local government, the wildfires are mainly caused by “discarded cigarettes, people lighting cooking fires or burning debris, and sometimes arson,”.
