‘Poachers likely behind deadly KZN fire that killed firefighters’

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uMngeni Local Municipality mayor Chris Pappas says it is believed that poachers are responsible for starting a runaway fire that claimed the lives of three volunteer firefighters in Boston in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Five other firefighters were injured.

In the last week, seven other people have died from wildfires in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Pappas says the land that has been damaged is a combination of land that is privately owned, SAPPI land, and land under the traditional authority.

“The eyewitnesses claim that poachers at the bottom of the valley started fires. It’s a common occurrence when people try to get animals out so they can poach them. That fire then got away. It was not a particularly windy day but it has been hot and dry conditions. In the area, there is a severe fire warning out in this area. We have had very bad fires. Just over the weekend, a number of fires, plantations burnt, nature reserves burnt down, farms and houses have been burnt down.”

Pappas is urging residents in the area to be vigilant as windy and dry conditions persist.

“There is a really strong fire danger in place at the moment so we urge people not to start fires and to be cautious when you do see smoke please report it immediately so we can try and attend to it as quickly as possible. it is fire season but it’s a particularly bad one and across KZN we’ve seen hundreds of hectares of land lost so far.”