Fire has ravaged 3000 hectares of the Garden Route National Park near The Crags‚ SANParks said on Friday.
About 180 firefighters were battling flames along an 11km fire line‚ said incident commander Dirk Smith‚ of the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association.
The fire started on private land on Monday and jumped to the national park.
"The western and eastern flank as well as the head of the fire is a major concern‚" said Smith. "The fire has burnt mainly fynbos areas where there are no structures."
A fire disaster area had been declared in order to access additional resources‚ and the South African National Defence Force had been asked to provide firefighting helicopters.
"Heavy smoke is impeding visibility so that it is unclear what the head of the fire is doing‚" said Smith. "There is currently no indication of when the fire might be contained as it may take months to deal with suppression and mop-up.
"However‚ with wind travelling at 50 km/h and only 10ml of rain expected today‚ so the risk continues."
Working on Fire teams across the country had been placed on standby and 70 firefighters from the Free State were expected to arrive today to assist.
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