Since December 2023, emergency services have had to deal with nearly 4 000 wildfires in the Western Cape.
Also read: Fire season continues: Crews attend to two fires in the Witzenberg area
Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell told ENCA that 837 fires were reported outside the City of Cape Town. About R15.5 million has already been spent on aerial resources.
Speaking on the cause of the fires, Bredell says research has shown that more than 90% of the fires were caused by human behaviour, highlighting the importance of raising awareness about fire safety.
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‘For now, we need to understand that we are halfway through the fire season. We’ve spent nearly our whole budget, so I’ll need to negotiate with the (Provincial) Treasury for emergency funding because, at the end of the day, you need to put lives first and then protect the property. Ecologically, we are not too concerned. Fynbos needs to burn every seven to 10 years, so that will recover quite soon.’
Bredell adds that the department does have emergency funding set aside. ‘We have a very good communication channel with the Provincial Treasury.’
While he can not provide an estimate of how much funding might still be needed, Bredell remains optimistic. ‘I hope that we won’t need more than R5 million but it’s also a discussion with our partners (Working on Fire, the national defence force) on whether they can make their resources available to support us. There are ways that we can manage this but I hope that we’ll get through this season without using R20 million.’
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