Why we love battling fires: Cape firefighters speak about their tough jobs

“I have been working since Sunday. This fire broke out at around midnight. I am extremely tired. For this entire week I have had no more than six hours of sleep” says firefighter Ettienne Rudolph while on break after spending the better part of the day fighting the inferno raging through Du Toitskloof in the Western Cape.

He is one of the many Drakenstein firefighters who have worked around the clock in a bid to extinguish the fire that has been raging for the most part of the week.

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Since the early hours of Monday morning Du Toitskloof pass has been ablaze and traffic has had to be diverted through Huguenot Tunnel.

He says that his colleagues are the best part of his job.

“When we come down from the mountain for a break we have all sorts of entertainment at our disposal. We joke and tease one another which takes our mind off the exhaustion. I don’t get to see my family enough but hopefully once the fire is under control I will get to see them.”

A cheerful Hildon De Kock spoke to The Times after working for 60 hours straight with little rest in between.

“I have been working since Monday morning. I started at 7am and have been working right through. I haven’t seen my family in three days.”

He says that he is extremely tired and looks forward to a good night’s rest.

Drakenstein fire chief Derick Damons says that this particular fire has been fanned by strong winds which makes it even harder to combat.

"Fires are extremely unpredictable‚ an entire house can burn down in two minutes."

Small coals are blown all over the town and people with thatched roofs are particularly high at risk.

"There have been fires on the Du Toitskloof Pass in previous years but this is the worst I have ever seen it‚" said Damons.

High temperature and strong winds in the province have made it particularly difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze.

“Every year it is worse than the previous year. The drought in the country has made the fire season worse this year‚” says James-Brent Styan‚ spokesman for the provincial department of local government‚ environmental affairs and development planning.

Since the start of this year‚ fire services have been called to 620 fires in the province with 90% of all fires being extinguished within the first hour of responding.

Within the coming weeks the ministry will be investigating the damage the fires have caused once the infernos have been brought under control.

“It is difficult to give an estimate of the total damages that the fires have caused so far. The Cape Peninsula and Cape Winelands are high value areas in terms of property and wine farms‚" Styan said.

"We are in the process of phoning up municipalities in order to at least get a rough estimate of the damage the fires have caused so far‚ but it is difficult to say at the moment”.

-TMG Digital/The Times