TMNP fires contained

By Cindy Witten
18 March 2009

The veld fires that started up on Devils Peak last night, forced residents living in and around the area to evacuate their homes.
For many, the thick palls of smoke made it unbearable to breathe.

Fire fighters worked throughout the night and managed to keep the flames under control. Phillip Prince, fire manager of Table Mountain National Parks (TMNP), says that the fires have been contained. However, helicopters are water bombing the mountain to ensure that all flames are 100% eliminated.

“Everything is now more or less quiet. Everything is contained at this stage, it’s only here in the game camp, below Rhodes Memorial, above De Waal Drive where there’s still a lot of smoke,” said Prince.

He added that the reason for the smoke is that pine trees tend to create huge amounts of smoke when burning.

“Everything has burned out, so at this stage it’s not actually a threat,” he said.