Barrydale firefighters have been working tirelessly in an attempt to contain a blaze that has made its way over the mountain to the farmland since it first broke out on Monday, February 1.
“The past few days were used in order to prepare for when this fire moved down the mountain to the farms – Doringrivier, etc – and to close this fire off. With an increase of wind this afternoon the fire told us that the time has come for the big battle,” the Greater Overberg FPA said via Facebook on the evening of Wednesday, February 3.
The nature of this fire is the following:
– Mountain terrain with very old veld that makes it nearly impossible to fight whilst it is still burning in the mountains
– The mountain (like most) has deep cliffs thus, in the majority of incidents, the fire tends to move much faster when coming down
“This afternoon the final planning meeting with all the stakeholders was held and our tactics agreed for the next 48 hours. The resources were deployed and working hard in light wind conditions. Our resources include a large representation of the local landowners and a @Wofire chopper on standby at the ICP,” the FPA said.
The residents of the Barrydale town are warned to expect lots of fire and smoke close to the town, and a large contingency of vehicles are present.
“We are working in a phased manner bringing the active fire safely down to the farmlands and fighting the lines with the potential threat an uncontrolled spread to Barrydale,” the organization added. “We expect to bring the fire around the mountain above Barrydale during the day of Thursday, February 4.”
A total of 100 ground team members will be deployed with all current resources.
Picture: Greater Overberg FPA/Facebook