Former Stone resident’s terrifying forest fire encounter

Former Stone resident Lynne Shepley now lives in South Africa and sent us this fascinating report and spectacular photographs of a brave and dramatic firefighting operation following a series of devastating forest fires in the area back in March. Thanks Lynne.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Cape Peninsula was in the grip of raging wildfires in early March, stretching many miles from the Indian Ocean up and over the Table Mountain National Park to the Atlantic Ocean – and to us living here in Hout Bay.

The fires ravaged the mountains and the forests over six days and the loss of forests, together with foliage and wildlife in the area has been enormous.  Some property, including a local hotel, also perished.  Three firemen tragically lost their lives.  Two annual international sports events – The Argus Cycle Tour and The Two Oceans Marathon, have since had to be re-routed as the damage to the mountains threatens cyclists and runners not only with rock falls, but mud slides during rainfall.

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The only way to fight such fires is to use helicopters to carry water from the sea or from reservoirs up into the mountains.  Each helicopter has a large bucket suspended underneath, using a unique pulley system.  They hover over the water, scooping it up into the bucket, then transport the bucket up into the mountains, where they then ‘water bomb’ the fires with extraordinary precision.

It’s tough work and three or four helicopters may work tirelessly together as a team all day and into the early evening. Since the fires were spread over many miles and there were only a limited number of helicopters available, a spotter plane flew up and down the peninsula, directing the helicopters by radio from one ‘hot spot’ to another.”