Cape Fires

Noordhoek fire

It's the fire season in the Cape. The fynbos vegetation is designed to burn every 5-15 years. Unfortunately, the fire frequency has gone up with the increase in tourism in the Western Cape. Apparently tourists love throwing cigarette buts out of their windows. Can't seem to help themselves, poor dears. This results in patchy fires every summer, that are rapidly fought to avoid property destruction. The example below is from a fire we saw near Noordhoek. The blaze was worked by two helicopters pulling water from local lakes. We watched them for 20 mins. The pilots were pretty impressive, often flying right through the smoke on close passes. Can't imagine the turbulence and heat make that much fun. Hectic job, but valuable. Within 45 mins they had extinguished the fire.

A sequence of a fire drop. Check the helicopter disappearing into the smoke (click on the picture for a larger image).