While hundreds of Capetonians have been left homeless over Christmas following a spate of fires, suspicions have arisen that some vegetation fires were started deliberately.
Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell says between Sunday and Monday the teams attended to three structural fires, while strong winds fanned multiple vegetation fires.
Powell says: “In Seawinds, 135 structures were destroyed; 60 structures in Jim Se Bos and in Wallacedene 45 structures were destroyed. A total of 900 persons have been affected.”
On Wednesday, the department reported that 30 more people in Imizamo Yethu were displaced after a fire ripped through the area.
However, Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith says while attending to the fire, police had to be called in as residents attacked firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze.
He says just two days earlier, a vegetation fire broke out in the same area and it appeared that the land was being cleared for a land invasion.
He says as firefighters worked tirelessly in Simon’s Town they noted something which caused them to become suspicious.
Smith says: “After the fire was extinguished and within an hour of the [Cape Point] gates reopening, a new fire was started showing that it was intentional and someone was just waiting for the gates to open.
“When assessing the fire at the Glencairn Expressway, both the Fire Chief and myself agreed that it had been started on purpose and the patterns of the fire were just illogical.”
Smith says the fire between Hangberg and Llandudno was started by someone who had fired a flare gun into the air.