Two separate mountain fires raged in the Overberg on Sunday, January 18. The fires at Karwyderskraal/Paardenkloof and Graymead/Villiersdorp have both been partially contained.
There is no confirmed cause of the fires yet.
Overstrand Municipality Fire Services supported by a Working on Fire ground crew, chopper and landowners were battling to keep the Paardenkloof fire out of the mountain. It was partially contained at about 10.45pm on Sunday, although it continued to slowly burn with most of the active line in very rocky terrain inaccessible with vehicles.
The Graymead/Villiersdorp fire was out of control, with very long hot lines. The CapeNature Fire management team, working with four FTE teams, an NCC wildfire team, the Villiersdorp PBW and landowner support under the leadership of the Overberg District Municipality Fire Services, helped partially contain the blaze.
“This fire created quite a few fire lines, of which one raced for the mountain. The landowner managed to prevent damage to their orchards. A few back burns were required to protect infrastructure, to prevent a new line reaching the mountain and avoid the fire lines in the mountain moving down again into unburnt farmlands. The other active lines were also closed as part of the back burn strategy,” reported the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association (FPA).
At 9.30pm on Sunday, the fire had been partially contained but was still actively burning in the mountain while the fire on the farmlands had been contained.
Picture: Facebook / Greater Overberg FPA