The Cape Winelands District Municipality’s Fire Services reported that the fire teams have made excellent progress toward containing the fire in the areas above Stellenbosch.
The fire is not fully contained as there are still a few active fire lines in the inaccessible kloof of Banhoek.
The firefighting and ground teams managed to contain most of the active fire lines in the Jonkershoek Valley during Sunday’s activities. The incident command reported that the wind did not pick up in the late evening as was predicted, which allowed them to troop a few teams into the higher peaks.
The ground teams spent the night focussing their efforts on the accessible fire lines and continued with mopping-up operations. All staff continued working through the night and will be replaced by fresh teams this morning.
The fire teams will spend Monday, March 1 focussing on hotspots, managing flare-ups and on-going mopping up operations. There has been no of loss of life, livelihood, or damage to property.
The good progress made over the last 24 hours has enabled many of the teams and other resources that came from the Overberg and West Coast District Municipalities, Provincial Disaster Management and the SANDF to return to their stations.