Wildfire won't take olives off the menu‚ says boss of Cape estate

18 January 2017 - 19:41 By Petru Saal
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Jug of olive oil with a bowl of olives.
Jug of olive oil with a bowl of olives.
Image: Thinkstock

Olive lovers can relax: the Paarl wildfire that hit an olive grove in Du Toit’s Kloof will not lead to a shortage of your favourite fruit.

“You will still have your Buffet olives‚ there’s no two ways about that. We have a large portion of the farm unaffected by the fire‚” CEO Richard Allen told The Times on Wednesday.

  • Arson suspected as scores of Cape fires threaten lives, propertyWestern Cape premier Helen Zille, families in upmarket Cape Town suburbs and Winelands farmworkers have something in common today - terror - as a firestorm tears through the province. 

And the trees that had been brushed by the fire would recover.

Flames reached the farm early on Tuesday‚ when the fire also destroyed the main house on Paarl’s oldest wine estate‚ Calais.

“People living in the house had to evacuate as soon as possible as the roof almost instantaneously burned down‚” said a director of the estate‚ who did not want to be named.

  • Fires indiscriminate as they wreak heartbreak and trauma across Cape societyWestern Cape Premier Helen Zille‚ suburban families in upmarket Cape Town and Winelands farm workers share something in common today - the terror of the firestorm tearing through the province. 

“We lost a lot in the fire‚ paintings worth thousands of rands‚ and a lot of the things cannot be replaced due to their sentimental value.”

The Drakenstein Municipality fire chief‚ Derick Damons‚ said more than 200 firefighters were still working long shifts to combat the flames.

-TMG Digital/The Times

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