Newsletter
January 2009
F I R E !
Wednesday 20th January 2009.
After being on red-alert the previous week when a fire raged on a neighbour's farm - a fire that was brought under control with a major effort by ourselves and others,
the fire that originated from the same vicinity on Wednesday 20th was not so easily stopped.
There was a howling wind fanning the flames. The fire leapt across the main route between Botrivier and Hermanus. Our neighbour's property, being totally overgrown with alien vegetation,
fueled the fire, which within minutes ran into our property. It was frightening to see how quickly a line of fire can run up the mountains. We were on our quad bikes, checking and looking,
and within a short space of time our route was blocked with heavy smoke. Fortunately we have an excellent road network so we headed to higher ground and took the road on the sea-facing side of the farm,
the one we call the Vuyani Highway, to get back to the farm yard. It was spectacular to see the flames running towards the Botrivier side of the mountain, which until today was covered in Everlastings.
With the bit of luck the seeds are already ripe and will result in many new plants.
The wind turned and the fire direction put our house into its path. We put our garden sprinkler system on to damp things down. I rushed around to save our most precious belongings
and then stood back to watch the proceedings when the cars were fully loaded and ready to roll. It was a very close call. On the corner of the garden, near the compost heap where we had put cut
off branches from our trees, these burnt down, but the fire fighting teams managed to keep it away from the rest of the garden, and then the wind took the flames to the line of gumtrees just above
and left of the house and there it continued right to the top of the mountain and into the Forestry pine plantations and farms towards the direction of Kleinmond.
Below and to the right of our house is an area we call the River Garden, where Robert's mother planted a large variety of indigenous trees and plants in the early 1950's.
It was heartbreaking to see the old Cedars going up in flames, but thankfully the bottom third was saved. This was the most important section, which has 50 year old yellow wood trees,
a very old Alberta Magna, and a fully grown Cape Chestnut. Late afternoon yesterday Richard spotted smoke there again, and he promptly put that out. That after a full afternoon's work making
a back-burn on top of the farm when the wind turned and threatened to run into that section which had earlier escaped the fire. If that fire had managed to escape, it would have run right to Houw Hoek and beyond.
For the last few years we have struggled to cut down the plantation of pines, planted with much dedication by the previous generation, and we finally managed to have the last ones felled in 2007.
We had been wanting to cut down the "opslag" (baby) pines, some of which were starting to bear cones, but somehow we could never get the right weather. The risk of starting an uncontrollable fire
there was just too high. Well, this run-away fire did us a huge favour and burnt out the lot! Just hope we get some regrowth of vegetation before the next heavy rains.
The upshot of the whole fire, when we went to assess the farm the next day, is that it cut a huge line through the natural vegetation from a direction of 4pm to 11am, all natural veld.
This included areas that were due for burning in the foreseeable future. To the right of our frequently used road to the top of the mountain (more or less in the middle of the property,
it remained unburnt, and the Everlastings, which are as showy as anything this year, are intact. To the left of that the mountain is charred right to the border with the Forest Department
(MTO) and Nature Conservation. Beneath the cave where a lot of little pines were needing eradication, we have been saved from having to do that job! There is, however, still quite a bit
of alien clearing to do on the rest that has not burnt!
Of course we continually checked right throughout the night and the next day, until last night when it all looked safe, and then came welcome rain!
We are grateful to the wonderful assistance of the Overstrand authorities, Working for Fire, Nature Conservation and farmers in the area who came to assist and supplement our equipment and work force.
Without their help we would have lost more than we did, which we estimate to be about 1/3rd of the farms natural vegetation. We lost none of our plantations or buildings. And we still have our home!
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