Cape Town - In the busiest fire season recorded over the past four years, has seen the City’s Fire and Rescue Service put out 13 087 fires between October and January. The majority of these were vegetation fires, accounting for 55% of call-outs.
Vegetation fires increased by 19%, compared to the same period the previous year, with the statistics showing an upward trend over the past three years, the City said.
Residential fires recorded a slight downturn in both informal and formal fires, compared to the previous year.
“The past few months have been a true test of our Fire and Rescue Service’s capabilities, as well as the various support departments. However, it has also been a testament to the planning and resourcing within the service, as well as the relationships that exist not only with other agencies like the Table Mountain National Parks, their service provider NCC and the Volunteer Wildfire Services, but also our memorandum of agreement with neighbouring municipalities who stepped in when we needed them,” said safety and security mayco member JP Smith.
“And, while investigations continue to determine whether some of the fires we’ve experienced were set deliberately, the response to date speaks volumes about the City’s ability to handle adversity.
“We are not out of the woods yet, but I want to commend everyone involved in what has been one of the busiest periods from a firefighting perspective.”