Fire fighters and Grahamstown Riding Club members continue to monitor a fire that yesterday destroyed 26 stables and forced the evacuation of dozens of horses. And in warm, dry conditions with winds of 45km/h today, fire chief William Welkom says the smallest spark could set alight the dry sawdust and feed at the Club’s premises.
Fire fighters and Grahamstown Riding Club members continue to monitor a fire that yesterday destroyed 26 stables and forced the evacuation of dozens of horses. And in warm, dry conditions with winds of 45km/h today, fire chief William Welkom says the smallest spark could set alight the dry sawdust and feed at the Club’s premises.
The fire which continued throughout last night is currently contained between Strowan Road and the Cradock Road (R350) and fire fighters are dousing tree stumps on the north-west side of the landfill site to prevent the fire spreading to adjacent farmland.
It spread from the adjacent rubbish dump around 10am on Friday 23 December. Horses were evacuated and moved to nearby paddocks. No horses or people received burn injuries in the fire, according to those on site.
“The wind did not do us any favours yesterday,” Makana fire chief William Welkom told Grocott’s Mail today. “We tried to prevent the fire from the dump from getting to the stables but the wind worked against us.”
Welkom, whose team monitored the area throughout the night, said fires in the dump were mainly causing a lot of smoke at the moment.
“We can get our vehicles into the area and have done so, but it is a very large area, with parts of it burning, parts of it smouldering at the same time. It is a huge task.”
In today’s dry, windy conditions there was a high danger of other fires across the municipality.
“Colleagues have reported serious fires in the Kinkelbos area and we have to be ready,” Welkom said. “Any spark can cause a runaway fire and we are on high alert.”
When Grocott’s Mail spoke to Welkom today, he had just dispatched a team to investigate thick smoke coming from the station area near Cobden Street.
The Club is determined that their first show, scheduled for February 2017, will go ahead. They are full of praise for the professionalism and diligence of the fire fighters on site; however, they have expressed frustration at what they say have been numerous attempts to get authorities to deal with smoke and fire at the dump since Saturday 17 December.
“The fire department have done a fantastic job of dealing with the fire here at the stables,” Club committee member Adrienne Plasket told Grocott’s Mail today. “Even though they seem quite thinly spread.
“However, we have done our utmost since Saturday to get someone to deal with the smouldering fires at the dump since last Saturday. We tried every official channel and pulled every string we could to get that fire put out, to no avail.”
Asked whether the Club would contemplate legal action against the municipality, Plasket said they reserved their rights. With committee members scattered around the country at this time of the year, they would be meeting early in January and this would be on the agenda.
“The grooms have suffered smoke inhalation. Obviously the horses have too, and we can expect a couple of weeks of stress colic in the animals: a fire is a scary thing for animals.” Plasket said.
While the brick buildings at the stables were insured, the two wooden stables weren’t.
“It’s left us in a pickle,” Plasket said. “We’re not a wealthy club – we’re a small community club with enough funds for maintenance and operations, not capital expenditure.”
She said they would have to come up with some very innovative ideas to raise funds to rebuild the two stable blocks – and they had to.
“Those are the stables we use for shows,” Plasket explained.
The Club hosts eight or nine big multidisciplinary shows a year, attracting riders and their entourages from across the province and the country. Not only are these good for Grahamstown, but they are also an important source of income for the Club.
“If we can’t host shows, we have no income, and it’s a severe knock-on effect.”
Plasket said she was grateful to the Grahamstown community, who had stepped in to help in various ways. At the time of Grocott’s Mail’s call today, Christmas Eve, Plasket was collecting fire beaters from The Lawnmower Shop. Owner Jacques Castelyn had specially come in and opened the shop.
“This little Grahamstown community is fantastic,” she said.
“We understand the challenges the municipality faces at every level, but they have an obligation to the community and this should not have happened,” Plasket said.
Questions sent to Makana Municipality regarding allegations made on social media of poor management of the situation at the dumpsite had not yet been responded to at the time of publishing.
However, acting municipal manager Riana Meiring, referring specifically to the fire at the Grahamstown Riding Club, said on Saturday 24 December that Makana's fire services had responded immediately.
"The information I have is that they were seriously hampered by strong winds in controlling the fires and did an excellent job of managing the fire under the curcumstances," Meiring said.
On 11 September 2015 Makana Municipality was issued with a high court order that included the requirement to develop and implement a proper management plan at the landfill site.
This followed a 9 March 2015 notice issued by The Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) for the municipality to comply with Section 31L of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema), with respect to the landfill site. The compliance notice contained details of the problems at the rubbish dump and requirements for them to be assessed and remedied.
* Altered to include comment from Makana Municipality, as well as changed "broke out" to "spread to" in paragraph 3.
