Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Firefighters keep flames away from 90 000 litres of brandy at Paarl KWV distillery

A convoy of Polish fire vehicles passes lake Vattern on their way to Uppsala, Sweden, 21 July 2018, (issued 22 July 2018). After a rest and refueling in Uppsala the Polish firefighters will continue during Sunday to central Sweden where they will help tackle the major wild fires. EPA-EFE/Anna Hallams SWEDEN OUT

Firefighters are battling a blaze at the KWV distillery in southern Paarl but have managed to contain the flames and keep them away from brandy tanks, an official said.

Drakenstein fire officer Derick Damons said the fire, which started around 07:30 on Tuesday morning, was in a building where bottles, pallets, machinery and equipment were stored.

“The [affected] area is about 100m by 60m. It is under an asbestos roof,” he said.

“The middle section had the risk of brannewyn [brandy] tanks with 90 000 litres but that was eliminated because we kept the fire and heat away.”

KWV CEO Boyce Lloyd KWV said the damage at their production facility was currently being assessed and they would provide an update once they had more information.

“One third-party service provider employee was admitted to hospital for smoke inhalation, whilst another was treated and released. Four KWV employees were treated on site for smoke inhalation,” he said.

Logistical and related distribution operations should suffer minimal disruption.

KWV said it was thankful for the quick and efficient response by authorities.

On scene were 48 officers and firefighters, and 16 fire vehicles from the Drakenstein, Stellenbosch and Cape Winelands municipalities. DM

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.