Second fire erupts along Glencairn Expressway in Western Cape

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Firefighters in Cape Town say the wind that picked up last night led to the fire that spread over to the other side of the mountain in Simon’s Town. A second fire has broken out along the Glencairn Expressway of this tourist town.

More than 1 100 hectares of vegetation have been destroyed since the fire broke out on Tuesday morning. More than 90 residents were evacuated for precautionary measures at Stonehaven Estate.

About 300 firefighters have been working tirelessly since the fire broke out on Tuesday. They are assisted by six helicopters to water bomb inaccessible terrain. The fire at some point threatened nearby residences, leading to the precautionary evacuation of about 97 residents at the Stonehaven Housing Estate.

“It’s really scary, I think you underestimate how big the flames get and you think that the fire department is able to stand in the way, and it’s too big, and they spend a lot of time trying to change the direction, but they can’t at that size, they can’t put the fire out, it’s just too big and so it’s very much around controlling the situation and making sure that everyone is safe.  And it’s very scary, it is,” says Stonehaven resident Shane Dryden.

Video: Firefighters persist in Simon’s Town as veld fire threat diminishes

While the fire is currently contained in the mountain area, Fire-fighters say the wind changes direction all the time.

Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service Spokesperson Jermaine Carelse says, “Firefighters continue their efforts along the fire lines in Simon’s Town and surrounds as well as Glencairn. There has been some respite from the wind this morning and we are hoping the reprieve lasts, although the winds tend to pick up as the day progresses. We still have six aerial support craft doing water bombing in the affected areas to support the tireless efforts of ground crews.”

“This whole side of the estate was evacuated it was mainly due to the smoke because of the high wind the smoke was really heavy and really became hard to breathe and see, so this whole side of the estate was evacuated and towards the back, there was the danger of a kind of reaching the last row of the houses but it was mainly due to the smoke that we were evacuated and we were able to come back early hours of the morning,” Dryden adds.

Roads have been closed between Simon’s Town and Cape Point as well as Glencairn Expressway. The Cape Town Municipality says it has called in staff who are off duty and also sought additional resources from other nearby municipalities like Stellenbosch, Drakenstein and Cape Winelands.

There’ve been no casualties or damage to property so far.