Four choppers, 18 vehicles deployed to fight fire raging in Du Toitskloof Pass

Plans are in place to extinguish a fire that is raging in Du Toitskloof Pass, near Paarl in the Western Cape.

"The Cape Winelands district municipality's fire services, together with personnel from CapeNature, the Fire Protection Association  and Drakenstein municipality's fire brigade, are actively fighting the fire," said Cape Winelands district municipality spokesperson Jo-Anne Otto.

She said the fire was burning in the area between the old and new national roads.

"No evacuation orders have been issued. The Huguenot Tunnel is open for traffic," said Otto.

She said there were four helicopters, 70 ground team members, 37 firefighters and 18 fire vehicles at the scene at around 3pm.

Otto said the fire started on Tuesday and spread into private properties situated between the old and new tunnels.