Minister heeds fire prevention plea

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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - George is very vulnerable to wildfires in August when hot and dry berg winds usually prevail. The high risk posed by the areas on the eastern borders of town where alien invasive vegetation grows right up against homes combined with the prolonged drought, add to the hazardous situation.

In a reply to an urgent request addressed to him by Prof Adrie Boshoff, Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde said that practical steps will be taken to prevent fires from annihilating George.

Winde is heading up a recovery task team for the Garden Route and has tasked Dr Hildegard Fast to oversee projects, including creating firebreaks in high risk areas. On Tuesday Fast said she will inform George's Municipal Manager Trevor Botha that he can definitely get Working for Water teams to do fireproofing work in municipal owned areas at no cost, apart from paying for some 'incidentals'.

The Provincial Rebuild team is also tasked to do clearing of alien invasive vegetation and create buffer zones near suburbs. Fast said work has started on stabilising the slopes of the the Heads and other areas in Knysna.

Preventing mud slides is regarded as top priority in areas where vegetation was destroyed by fire. A team from Working on Fire will carry out the building of retention walls in the next fortnight.

Winde buildings razed
At a function held in Wilderness on Friday 14 July Winde said his own home overlooking the lake in Knysna was spared from burning to the ground in June because he had cleared 20m of alien invasive vegetation behind the main building.

The home's thick security windows had been able to withstand the intense heat. However, his parents' home and other buildings had been razed. He said he is currently building retention walls to prevent soil erosion as the family property resembles a black wasteland.

Grave danger
Prof Boshoff said in his letter to Winde, "Both George and Wilderness are faced with a grave danger of being destroyed by fire. For the past decade it has repeatedly been pointed out that the Garden Route could be destroyed by fire. This was done as alien vegetation and neglected pine plantations have taken over large tracks of land in the area from George to Bitou. Nobody heeded the warnings. Personally I was repeatedly told by officials of the George Municipality that pine plantations 'cannot burn' and that alien vegetation burned at such high temperatures that it did not present a fire danger."

Boshoff appealed to Winde to intervene and immediately bring in Working for Water teams to clear the Kat River bordering George, and also to bring in the Working on Fire teams to help cut firebreaks in areas on George's northern and eastern borders, from Eden to Heatherlands.

Risk 'looked at'
Winde said, "Mr Boshoff's request was discussed at the recent Rebuild the Garden of Eden committee. The matter is acknowledged and a team is looking at this very risk. They are investigating the risk from Riversdale to Nature's Valley and have deployed over 200 WoF staff to start with mitigation. We will get an update on this in another 10 days. Fire risks in the region are the co-responsibility of all land owners as well as the general population. Urgent fire prevention measures need to be carried out in a systematic way."

Watch a video below.