GEORGE NEWS - Thirteen fires that had been ignited by lightning during the storms last Thursday and Friday (2 and 3 November) were still burning in the remote areas north of the Outeniqua mountains on Monday. A strong wind added fuel to the fires.
It was a priority for Eden District Municipality's Joint Operations Centre (JOC) on Monday and the rest of the week to water bomb an area north-west of the Molen River, which is expected to cause problems from Wednesday onwards if the wind picks up. The same chopper has also been permitted to bomb the De Vlugt and Jonksrus areas.
Eden DM Manager: Municipal Disaster Management Gerhard Otto said on Monday, "This morning the weather was not favourable for a reconnaissance flight to take place, which has made planning and coordination from the JOC a bit more complicated.
"Role players that information was sourced from on the ground include: Eden District Municipality, farmers, SANParks, Working on Fire (WoF), CapeNature, MTO and PG Bison."
Johan Brand, Eden DM station officer and incident commander, said that 72 hours of monitoring would continue to take place, which would ensure that preventative measures are in place for any flare-ups.
Read related articles:
• 5 Active fires in Eden district
• 14 Fires in Eden district
• Eden fires: Latest information
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