Cape Town — Authorities and officials continue to battle against the raging fires in Simon’s Town in Cape Town as the fire raged on into day 5, with City officials reporting several flare ups.
According to City of Cape Town (CoCT) fire and rescue spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, flare-ups continued at Partridge Point and Smitswinkel, where crews of firefighters are working tireslessly to put the fires out. He added that an Onyx helicopter is on-hand to water bomb inaccessible areas.
“As we move towards Glencairn Expressway, there are still flare-ups along the road. Two Hueys are water bombing that area with crews dealing with flare-ups. In total, we still have over 35 firefighting resources on the scene, with approximately 100 staff members,” he added.
According to IOL, residents in the area had to be evacuated for precautionary measures, there were no reports of injuries to civilians or property damage.
⚠️FIRE UPDATE by Fire & Rescue Services Spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse
On the Simon’s Town front, we currently have flare-ups at Partridge Point and Smitswinkel, crews are busy with firefighting and where one Oryx helicopter is water bombing the inaccessible areas.#CTNews pic.twitter.com/74G51X2O4W
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) December 23, 2023
Meanwhile, Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, has urged residents to remain cautious and to not leave fires unattended, or to start them when it is not appropriate, SABC News reported.
“As the wind increases and if we don’t have rain for a while, the vegetation dries out. And all you need is one irresponsible act by a person because all fires start from the activity of humans and then you have this kind of chaos. We are lucky there’s no lives lost and no damage to property but we won’t always be lucky. We shouldn’t need luck. We should always rely on everybody being responsible and doing the responsible thing,” Smith said.
[WATCH] It’s day 5 of fighting fires in Cape Town and officials say the situation is under control. Simon’s Town and Glencairn vegetation has been in flames over the last few days. @yazkam speaks to two firefighters, a married couple, who were on duty this week.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/gH8SpvqQOP
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) December 23, 2023
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
