Cape fires: 'Arsonist' nabbed

2005-12-10 10:21

Cape Town - A suspected arsonist was arrested on Friday afternoon not far from the blaze which has been raging across the Oudekraal area on the Cape Peninsula since early morning, Working on Fire (WoF) spokesperson Val Charlton said.

She said a member of the public spotted the man trying to start a bush fire and alerted SA National Parks personnel, who apprehended him and took him to a police station.

She did not know if the man was linked to the Oudekraal fire.

SANParks spokesperson Fiona Kalk confirmed the arrest.

"We're definitely going to pursue it. We're going to charge him, most definitely," she said.

"We commend the member of the public who raised the alarm, and we again ask people to report suspicious behaviour or suspected fires."

Charlton said the Oudekraal blaze had been contained, but the fire that broke out in the Bain's Kloof area of the Boland on Thursday was still "fairly serious".

It had already burned some 9 000 hectares, most of it fynbos, and was currently burning between the kloof and Groenberg towards the north west.

An Mi8 and a Camel helicopter had been water-bombing it the whole day, while there were about 80 firefighters on the ground.

She said some farms had been at risk on Thursday night, and she understood some cattle were lost to the flames, but at the moment it was "quite high up in the mountains".

A fynbos fire at Gordon's Bay had been contained.

Charlton said WoF was bringing several firefighting teams from KwaZulu Natal down to the Cape to relieve weary firefighters there.

She said the strong south-easter which has fanned the flames over the past two days was set to continue, and there was a constant danger that smouldering coals in areas where flames had been extinguished, would flare up again.

For this reason firefighters had to be deployed "all along the line" of burned-out areas, she said.

- SAPA