Fire victims across the city including Dunoon, Langa, Strand and others, are expected to receive emergency housing kits today while firefighters were still working tirelessly to contain multiple wildfires along the Garden Route on Sunday afternoon.
At the weekend, the City said their assessments indicated that 130 structures had been destroyed in Masiphumelele, 64 in Nomzamo, 143 in Dunoon, and 150 in Langa, based on early evaluations.
City Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said they responded to numerous calls after 8.15pm on December 26, of informal structures alight just off Winnie Mandela Street in Langa.
“Several fire crews from various fire stations were activated and around 19 frontline fire resources and a total of 80 staff were on scene, including the Incident Management Team.
“The fire area was divided into three divisions in order to maximise the resources on scene and to mitigate further damages. By 2.30am, firefighters managed to extinguish the fire,” he said.
Disaster Management spokesperson Sonica Lategan after DRM officials concluded their assessments, final statistics indicated that 297 households were affected, leaving 682 people displaced.
No injuries or fatalities were reported. “In terms of City infrastructure, one water tap and electrical infrastructure were damaged. The City's Electricity and Water and Sanitation departments were activated to repair and restore services to the site. Electricity in the surrounding areas has been secured.
The Solid Waste Department will start with mop-up operations once accessibility to the burn site has been sorted.
The National Human Settlement Department will provide building materials to the affected homeowners, while the Western Cape Department of Social Development committed to provide psychosocial support to those in need,” said Lategan.
Dunoon PR councillor Thando Dedezane said churches and offices were full and they were currently assisting individuals with ID issues, as some people's IDs were burned in the fire.
“All materials for everyone will be delivered tomorrow. A decision has been made to address this for all affected areas, not just Dunoon, but also Langa, Hout Bay, Strand, and all other impacted areas. Initially, we aimed to deliver today, but we had to find people and address ID and affidavit issues.”
Gift of the Givers said it has been a busy fire season.
“We’ve (seen) 12 fires in 10 days. The first fire was at the Chester Williams informal settlement in Paarl.
Thereafter we assisted the electricity informal settlement, then we had two big ones in Dunoon, Philippi, Masiphumelele, Langa. Our immediate operation was to provide the families with urgent humanitarian needs hot meals, clean drinking water, personal hygiene care item packers, babycare packs, blankets, mattresses, there has been a need for clothing as well,” said Gift of the Givers Project manager,
Ali Sablay. He said they would also be donating school uniforms and stationery in the new year.
Human Settlements Minister, Thembi Simelane also visited several affected communities at the weekend including the Wag ‘n Bitjie informal settlement, Nomzamo in Strand where a 30-year-old man lost his life due to smoke inhalation while firefighters battled a fire that left more than 200 people displaced. By Sunday afternoon, several wildfires were still active in the Garden Route region, with teams focused on containment and mop-up efforts.
In the George municipal area, Buffelsdrif remained active, while a wildfire at Jongensfontein in the Hessequa Municipal Area was also ongoing, with mopping up efforts continuing. The Swartberg Pass area, including De Kombuys and Koos Raubenheimer Dam in Oudtshoorn, were experiencing wildfire activity on both its east and west flanks.
Cape Times