Firefighters still battling to contain Cape fire

About 160 firefighters were still battling to contain a running fire over the Du Toitskloof mountain range at lunchtime today.

Spokesperson for the incident command centre in the Paarl area, Justin Lawrence said the fire, with the help of strong overnight winds, was spreading towards Worcester, with a number of farms in the way.

“It’s the conditions; it’s very hot and it’s very windy overnight … We’re looking to contain it today.

“They [the fires] are going to farms; we haven’t evacuated anyone yet,” he said.

The firefighters were made up of crews from the Cape Winelands, the Drakenstein Cape Nature district and Working on Fire.

In addition, the SA National Defence Force had deployed two helicopters to water-bomb the fires.

Since yesterday, 10 buildings had been destroyed, including cottages and a guesthouse.

Lawrence said no injuries or deaths had been reported.