At least seven people were injured, more than 300 animals burned and millions of rands worth of equipment and infrastructure destroyed. This is just some of the damage done by three devastating veld fires in the Fochville area over the past long weekend.
Much of this devastation was caused by a fire that was allegedly started by two men on bicycles on the edge of the Sirkel A Boerdery next to the road past the Crocodilian restaurant on Sunday afternoon.
According to Armand de Villiers and his wife Annemarie, they actually saw the alleged arsonists just after they left their farm to go and pick up a relative at Lanseria airport at approximately 12:30.
“If I had just stopped and asked them what they were doing, it could have changed many things,” says De Villiers. By the time that they had to rush back to their farm about two hours later, two bakkies, several farm implements, sheds with food for their cattle, infrastructure, containers with poison and grazing worth approximately R10.5 million was destroyed.
“Thirty years of hard work was destroyed in half an hour. I do not know why anyone would want to do this as we give employment to more than 20 people, which in turn supplies food to just more than 100 residents,” he said.
Although the fire, which according to security camera footage was more than double the height of their roof, was stopped around 20:00 with the help of authorities and neighbours, it flared up again early the next morning at approximately 03:00.
This, amongst other things, killed about 300 sheep and goats on the farm of Andre Badenhorst. Veld fires also caused massive damage in the Palmietfontein area near Fochville. Despite the huge damage no one was killed by the flames, although several people were injured.
“We had to transport six patients, two mothers and their three children as well as a man to hospital. All were injured in Sunday afternoon’s fires,” says the manager of the Gauteng EMS Fochville base, John Tlisane.
“These patients are farm workers and their family members who were rescued by a farmer’s son, Frikkie Tolmay, in the Palmietfontein area. Frikkie was also badly burned and needs an operation because of this,” the chairperson of the Fochville Fire Protection Association, Gawie Maritz, told the Herald on Tuesday.Maritz says that the preliminary estimate of the damage caused by the first fires on Sunday amounts to R20 million.
Two farms in this area, one of which is that of the De Villiers family, were completely destroyed. Three farms in the Palmietfontein area are also completely destroyed. Farmers, firefighters, Working on Fire and various other helpers tried to fight the devastating fires.
“It was just impossible for us to battle these fires as the wind blew between 50 and 60 kilometres per hour, which is faster than a vehicle can move in the veld,” says the district manager of Emergency Management Services, Nico Kahts.
Inspectors from the Carletonville SPCA and their national body, the NSPCA, helped animals in need after the fires.
Criminal cases have been opened.
Huge veld fires also caused massive damage on farms between Fochville and Parys, as well as closer to Vereeniging.
By late Sunday afternoon the section of the R500 road between Fochville and Parys had to be closed to traffic due to the raging fires.
A farm worker fighting the flames was killed by the fire in the Lindequesdrift area while at least ten other people in this area were injured, one of them suffering 40 percent burns to his body.
A bakkie with fire fighting equipment also burned out. This area is between Fochville and Parys, but falls under the jurisdiction of the North West province.
Meanwhile, the fires were started despite the fact that the West Rand District Municipality’s Fire and Rescue Services had already issued a prohibition against making any type of open fire in the area due to the current weather conditions. “This measure is necessitated by the current adverse weather conditions and high winds, which significantly heighten the risk of uncontrolled wildfires,” says Kahts.
This means that all open fires, including campfires, the burning of firebreaks and the burning of rubbish is prohibited.
Some of the affected farmers need help to feed their animals as grazing fields and animal feed was destroyed in the fires. Anyone who can help, can contact Maritz at 082 348 3768.
