MBOMBELA – Lowveld pilots were summoned to the Garden Route this past weekend to join the hundreds of firefighters in the battle against the continuing blazes.

The infernos outside George are estimated to be four times larger than last year’s devastating fire in Knysna.

Up to date, six major wildfires have engulfed almost 90 000 hectares in huge parts of the Western and Eastern Cape.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated along the Garden Route.

According to Linton Rensburg, provincial Working on Fire spokesman, in addition to
450 firefighters, 10 fire trucks, 10 transport buses and six management bakkies from Working on Fire, local pilots are on their way to supply much-needed support in one of the largest deployments in South African firefighting services’ history.

Three spotter plane pilots from Mbombela, Erick Nel, Johannes Botha and David Eden, left their families behind on Sunday to join the fight.

They touched down along with Cornel Jansen van Rensburg in an AT-802 bomber, who joined fellow local bomber pilot, Rinus van Raaij. Bevan Harris has returned, but will rejoin them later this week.
Four Huey helicopters were also deployed on Sunday, and were expected to land on Monday. Among them are well-known local Huey pilot, Mark Jackson, Gary Shuttleworth from Graskop and Neil Mostert from Mbombela.

To make sure that the aircraft are in tip-top condition, aircraft maintenance engineer Abrie le Roux also joined the group, along with Working on Fire provincial GM, Martin Bolton and operations executive, Piet van der Merwe.

These pilots, during the past Lowveld and escarpment fire season, suppressed 58 fires with a combined flying time of 46 hours per aircraft which totals to 593 hours for the season.

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Their precision was used to fight the fire that was raging for 11 days. Overall, the fire is 90 per cent contained with some areas smouldering at Diepwalle, Kransbos and valleys at Jonkersberg. Teams have been place at these areas to monitor any flare-ups.

Rensburg added that Sunday evening was cool with low wind speeds, and the average temperature for Monday was 11 degrees Celsius. These conditions persist.

“It is conducive to mopping-up activities and increased ground crew resources, if effectively managed, can result in the current 30 per cent containment areas to increase to 80 per cent containment by the end of the next four operational periods,” Rensburg estimated on Monday.

Many lines have effectively been contained, but the long distances and accessibility of lines do make mopping up slow and difficult in certain places.