Africa-Press – South-Africa. Aerial support was called in to assist firefighting teams to extinguish runaway veldfires raging in and around the town of Danielskuil in the Kgatelopele Local Municipality.
Teams from the Mgcawu District Municipality in the Northern Cape have been working around the clock to battle the blaze. There has been support from the provincial cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs department and aerial support from the national forestry, fisheries and environment department.
The department’s spokesperson, Babalwa Mzambo, said two choppers and spotters were deployed between Danielskuil and Kuruman.
The department said various stakeholders, including the SANDF, had been deployed to manage the fires.
“The area is currently receiving soft rain and no fire is detected from ground observation. The Ulco area, under the Frances Baard District Municipality, was also provided with aerial support on Friday after a fire was detected in the area,” said Mzambo.
She said an assessment would be done to determine the extent of the damage and whether there were any fatalities.
The DA called for “more resources” to be made available by the provincial government to control the fires between Danielskuil, Postmasburg, Lime Acres and along the R31.
The DA’s Michael Kaars said the fire had destroyed at least five houses and left massive tracts of farmland, a resort, and an electrical substation in its wake, while narrowly missing a filling station.
“We appeal to the department to continue to actively monitor the situation to minimise further damage to farms and surrounding residential areas,” said Kaars.
“We are also appealing to organisations and individuals to offer assistance to those affected by the fires.”
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