Inferno Madness: The severe impact of the Cape's adverse weather on wildfires

Investigations are under way to determine the causes of some of the massive runaway fires in the Western Cape that have burnt several thousand hectares of land, destroyed homes, uprooted communities and damaged valuable farmland. Millions of rand have already been spent in the first half of January on round-the-clock aerial and ground firefighting operations in the province.

Social media has been abuzz with theories and speculations about possible causes, but fact-based answers are needed. The Overstrand Municipality has appointed Rob Erasmus of Enviro Wildfire Consultancy to investigate the Pearly Beach and Stanford fires that required six days of aerial and ground firefighting bombardment in an attempt to bring them under control. He confirmed that good progress was being made with the investigations.

Erasmus described it as “one of the biggest firefighting operations that the Overstrand has experienced”. A “code red” was declared to access resources and support from surrounding municipalities.

“A wide range of tasks were constantly being undertaken, including active firefighting, planning and predicting the direction of fire spread, evacuation planning and implementation, coordination between formal services and community groups, and the massive logistical support of providing fuel, food, water, equipment repairs, medical assistance and animal rescue support,” Erasmus said.

The difficulty of the firefighting operation, he said, was compounded by strong winds that regularly changed direction, the hot, dry conditions and the vast tracks of dense stands of alien vegetation. The alien vegetation, including Port Jackson (Acacia saligna), burns hotter and longer than the indigenous fynbos, and the thick canopy prevents the water dropped from aircraft getting through to the ground.

“A secondary problem is that the alien vegetation tends to smoulder for longer, resulting in multiple rekindled fires or flare-ups occurring, causing fires that were believed to have been extinguished to start spreading again,” Erasmus said.

Ominous signs appearing

The drama began shortly after New Year. A few telltale spirals of smoke were visible here and there, a warning sign that the annual fire season in the Overberg was officially in full swing – hot, dry weather, extreme heat, wind gusts and dust. Typical weather in the Western Cape for this time of the year, everyone agreed.

But no. Within hours, the wind speed had ramped up, twisting and turning 180 degrees, fanning the flames in all directions. Smoke turned to infernos, flames were leaping as high as three-storey buildings, racing, roaring at speeds few had witnessed before, threatening lives, destroying homes and forcing major highways to be closed.

This wasn’t an ordinary fire season – this was runaway fire madness.

A witness from a housing estate near Stanford said the inferno appeared like a leaping giant of fire 500m away on the hill opposite the complex’s main gate. “It was like watching a horror movie unfold in real time. Thank God for our firefighters and volunteers – they are the heroes of this drama.”

Jami Kastner, the chairperson of the Stanford Tourism Association and the owner-­manager of Stanford Hills Estate, has lived in the area her whole life. “I have never seen anything like this before – fire so close you could feel the heat. Thankfully our beautiful heritage village has remained safe and intact,” she said.

“Strong winds, extreme heat, dry conditions and inaccessible terrain mean that flare-ups remain a real threat. It’s a major headache, yes, but the cost is too high not to address the underlying causes of these fires effectively.”

The history of Port Jackson and rooikrans trees in South Africa

Port Jackson (Acacia saligna), also called Port Jackson wattle, and rooikrans (Acacia cyclops) were introduced to South Africa from Western Australia around the 1840s–1850s, during European colonial expansion in the Cape region.

They were brought in mainly by European settlers and colonial authorities, rather than individual Australians, to be used for soil stabilisation, fodder, tannin production and windbreaks, but later became invasive throughout the country, increasing the risk of veld fires like the recent ones in the Cape.

Named after the Port Jackson area of Sydney Harbour, they are native to southwestern Australia, where they thrive in nutrient-poor soils and Mediterranean climates.

At the time of their introduction to South Africa, botanical societies and colonial agricultural departments encouraged their planting, seeing them as useful, fast-growing “alien” species to prevent soil erosion on the sandy Cape Flats.

Under the Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act of 1983, Port Jackson is proclaimed an invader plant that must be controlled on all farm units in South Africa where it causes the deterioration of natural agricultural resources. DM

(Information included from the South African Agricultural Research Council.)

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.