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KNYSNA NEWS AND GALLERY - Cobus Meiring, convener of the Garden Route Environmental Forum (Gref), remembers the fires and the impact they had.
"In that event [the fires], more than 20 000 hectares burnt to the ground over a four-day period," Meiring says.
"More than 800 homes and structures were destroyed, several lives were lost, close to 5 000 hectares of prime plantations were destroyed and immeasurable damage was done to infrastructure and the natural environment."
No more than a year later, the Garden Route suffered more wildfire disasters, this time close to the coast in the Still Bay and Riversdale areas.
"[These included] a fatal fire-fighting helicopter crash, and close to 100 000 hectares of agricultural and mountain landscapes burnt down in what was dubbed the Outeniqua fires," says Meiring. "The fires raged for weeks and came frighteningly close to the outskirts of built-up and suburban areas at George and Rheenendal."
The smoke during the 2017 fires hung over the town like dark clouds in the sky.
Firefighting capacity enhanced
In the years that followed, plenty of work has been done across multiple government- and privately run organisations along the Garden Route to enhance the district's firefighting capacity and abilities.
"The Garden Route Disaster Management Centre, in collaboration with Working on Fire (WoF), the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association (FPA), PG Bison and MTO Forestry, SANParks and CapeNature, as well as the dedicated firefighting units of the respective municipalities in the Garden Route, assisted in addressing firefighting capacity in the region," Meiring says.
"A new runway for fixed-wing fire bombers and dedicated sites for firefighting helicopters stationed at George, including essential equipment and facilities to refuel aircraft on site, as well as mobile water tankers, will allow for faster mobilisation and reaction times in the event of the outbreak of wildfires."
Weather conditions
According to Meiring, the winter weather in May and June is part of the reason for such devastating fires around this time of year.
"Winter weather conditions always - as displayed as recently as 18 May this year in George with several wildfires fanned by strong warm winds - have the potential to unleash the fury of Mother Nature in one way or another in the Western Cape."
He says the Garden Route in particular is prone to falling victim to weather conditions favourable to "run-away wildfire disasters, flooding on a grand scale and the havoc and danger high seas and strong winds can bring about in exposing coastal vulnerability".
Invasive alien plants
Another danger that Meiring points out is the prevalence of invasive alien plants (IAP) all along the Garden Route.
"IAPs prospering everywhere in the Garden Route landscape played a significant role in all the recent wildfire disasters," he explains.
"Over the past few years, many landowners have spent vast amounts of resources to remove them from their properties in order to safeguard their land from fire risks associated with the vast fuel load invasive alien plant biomass presents to runaway fires."
But, according to Meiring, not enough landowners have acted against IAPs.
"Unfortunately, there are many landowners who failed to act when they had the opportunity to clear their land of IAPs when they had a window of opportunity following the 2017 fires. In several places the levels of IAP infestation are today higher than before, setting the scene for a possible repeat of the fire disaster," he warns.
The fires caused severe damage to the natural environment all around Knysna.
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