Wildfires hit humans, animals

2005-09-26 22:52

Johannesburg - Wildfires began claiming lives - both human and animal - on Monday as they ran unabated across the hot, dry countryside, fanned by high winds.

A six-year-old girl, Bonakele Ngema, burnt to death in a house where she was trapped in Mntanenkosi reserve, KwaZulu-Natal.

At least one other person died in KwaZulu-Natal and hundreds of families were left homeless when their houses were destroyed by fire and bad weather at the weekend.

Prisoners had to be evacuated from Mbazwana police station to Emanguzi police ptation, in KwaZulu-Natal while policemen used buckets of water to fight a forest fire threatening the building. Three vehicles were burnt out.

In Limpopo, a 53-year-old, unnamed farmer died when the helicopter from which he was assessing a fierce blaze on his farm was caught by swirling winds and crashed.

Three elephants - aged two, seven and 15 - had to be destroyed, because they had been so badly burnt in a fire at Pilanesberg National Park, in North West.

Saddest sight he has seen

Another 14 elephants, all under 10, had been captured and were being cared for, said park manager Peter Leitner on Monday.

The fire, which started outside the park last Tuesday, took two days to bring under control.

Assessing the damage from a helicopter on Friday was the saddest sight he had seen in 20 years, said Leitner.

"Young, abandoned elephant, burnt all over, standing alone in the veld, just too painful to walk."

The younger animals were most susceptible to fire because of their size and the sensitivity of their skins.

The adults were mainly burnt on their backs and heads as they tried to protect the little ones.

Although many did not appear to be burned, it was clear when they walked that they had stood on hot coals.

With weather conditions coded "red" under the national fire danger rating system, a mere spark could set off a major blaze, said the public-private firefighting organisation, Working on Fire (WOF), spokesperson Val Charlton.

Fires were raging in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State and firefighters were on standby in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape on Monday.

"With the exception of the Free State, all the fires are in forested areas.

Nine fires burning in central Zululand on Sunday night had been brought under control, said Charlton.

Some fires still burning

Firefighters battled 20 fires in the Richard's Bay and St Lucia areas in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday and 15 on Sunday.

Lightning and forest bee-removers were being blamed for the fires in Limpopo. The causes of the other blazes were not known.

Two fires in Tzaneen, Limpopo, were under control, but three in Mpumalanga continued to burn uncontrolled.

In the Free State, a fire in Rosendal was still burning in inaccessible areas and along a long front. The burnt area was estimated at 12 000ha. A fire at the Willem Pretorius Reserve had been extinguished.

- SAPA