A fire on Mountain Drive that broke out at lunchtime on Friday 21 June burnt through a large area of vegetation in the vicinity of Rivendell farm, at the bottom of Howieson's Poort, but did not damage any homes.
A fire on Mountain Drive that broke out at lunchtime on Friday 21 June burnt through a large area of vegetation in the vicinity of Rivendell farm, at the bottom of Howieson's Poort, but did not damage any homes.
Mncedisi Boma, strategic manager for the Makana Municipality, said the cause of the fire was still unknown, but speculated that it may have been caused by an open flame or a dropped cigarette.
The windy weather on Friday helped the fire to spread from the Brackendell valley into the Rivendell valley, where it burned rapidly through the lush vegetation.
According to Nick James, owner of the Rivendell Hatchery, the flames reached a height of 20-30 metres. J
ames’s property, Rivendell, was badly burned, but fire fighters worked through the night to prevent damage to the house itself.
James said his main concern was keeping the fire away from the hatchery’s plastic tunnels, which would have burned easily had they caught alight.
Tariq Hayat, owner of the Stone Crescent Hotel along the N2, said fire fighters from the Grahamstown Fire Department responded promptly to the fire, which continued burning until Monday afternoon.
Hayat allowed the firemen access to the fire through his property, which was undamaged. Large fires are a recurring problem in the Rivendell valley, which falls under the Oldenburgia Conservancy.
Many of the plants in the valley are fynbos and need to be burned every 15 to 20 years to stimulate growth. But James said major fires occur in the Rivendell area every two to three years.
This frequent burning, he said, damaged the young plants and this could compromise diversity of plant species.
Boma said the only thing the municipality could do was to ensure the fire department was fully equipped to deal with an emergency at any moment.
