The runaway veld-fire that started sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning has swept rapidly from the vicinity of PJ Olivier, across Hillsview and the N2 towards Stones Hill. The fire has devastated everything in its path including some houses. The blaze was unstoppable, fuelled by the relentless gale force berg-winds that picked up in Grahamstown on Thursday morning and continued through the night.
The runaway veld-fire that started sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning has swept rapidly from the vicinity of PJ Olivier, across Hillsview and the N2 towards Stones Hill. The fire has devastated everything in its path including some houses. The blaze was unstoppable, fuelled by the relentless gale force berg-winds that picked up in Grahamstown on Thursday morning and continued through the night.
Residents of Stones Hill banded together to fight the blaze for most of Thursday night as the fire threatened many of their lives and homes. Lewis Horne, a Stones Hill resident said “in my 39 years here, never have I seen a fire like this before.” He continued “we fought the fire the whole day here yesterday.”
There are around 54 houses in Stones Hill, some of which have been devoured by the fire, others, have endured minor damage. Residents panicked as the fire blazed across the dry winter grassland surrounding their homes – some of them locking themselves indoors whilst others gathered vehicles and water tanks to help where they could. The Wille family's Bed and Breakfast, A Stone’s Throw, was hit hard as the fire claimed their property. The Ginn family have suffered a terrible loss. Leslie Ginn’s house, that she built up by herself only 4 years ago, was burnt to a cinder. The fire melted the water pipes to her family’s house, close by, leaving them to helplessly watch as the house burned down.
Don Chandler, a resident of Stones Hill explained that because of the nature of the properties in Stones Hill, it is difficult to get the fire trucks in through their front gates. Chandler’s small-holding was unfortunately robbed by a group of opportunists as he spent most of the night out helping his community. “Don helped a great deal last night,” said Horne.
As the fire moves down the valley adjacent to Stone’s Hill, the Mills family are preparing their ‘firefighting guns’ to wage a war against the flames, should they move up towards their house.
The 20 litre water-filled backpacks with trigger-action hoses are an “old but useful” tool, said Steven Mills.
Mrs Mills explained that 15 years ago they used to have a team of ‘fire-fighters’ geared up with these ingenious ‘guns’ who were on call for action. As time has passed their readiness has unfortunately slipped by the wayside. With a little maintenance and refill however, the arsenal is ready for action.
As smoke and the acrid smell of burning veld and rubble fills the air around Stones Hill, residents stop to appreciate their community. “I was amazed at how many people from town came to help; doctors, mechanics and old school folk,” said Mills. “It’s amazing how people come together,” said Chandler, “we even had a friend drive from Bedford to help.”
Although the origin of the fire is unknown at this stage, a staff member at PJ Olivier said he suspects the runaway blaze was started by vagrants making a fire on the warm Wednesday evening on a grassy area down near the power station on the outskirts of the school property. He and a colleague were off to hose-down the smoking school grounds.
