South African province experiences 14 major wildfires in summer season

 

South Africa’s Western Cape Province on Thursday said over 10 million South African rands (about 660,000 U.S. dollars) have been spent on 14 major wildfires and dozens of smaller fires in the province during this summer, occurring on the fire season.

The most prominent fire affected 5,372 hectares of land and most of the major wildfires happened last week throughout the province, provincial Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell said in a statement.

Twenty-four aerial units, ranging from spotter planes to large helicopters, provided support to extinguish the fires, he said, adding that aerial resources, although expensive, often prevent small fires from growing into runaway wildfires which could ultimately result in serious damage to property and loss of life.

He urged the public to remain vigilant and responsible with open fires as hot summer weather is expected over the next few months.

Unlike other South African provinces which mainly receive rainfall in summer, Western Cape, with a Mediterranean climate, has dry summers and wet winters