Major Cape highway closed because of fire

The highway over Sir Lowry’s Pass near Somerset West that is one of the major routes in and out of the Cape Peninsula had to be closed to traffic for more than four hours thursday night because of a runaway veld fire. A raging southeasterly wind made fighting the blaze almost impossible and helicopters could not drop water on the flames because of the wind. Some 500 firefighters had to be brought in to help contain the fire on the ground.