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Second Cape Town wildfire forces evacuations
Second Cape Town wildfire forces evacuations
by AFP Staff Writers
Cape Town (AFP) Dec 22, 2023

South African firefighters on Friday battled two major wildfires on mountains near Cape Town that have forced the evacuation of scores of families, authorities said.

Authorities closed access to the Cape of Good Hope, one of the country's most visited tourist attractions, because of the fires.

Fierce summer winds have fanned flames toward resorts around Cape Town as it braces to receive tens of thousands of visitors for end-of-year holidays.

Two planes and five helicopters are dropping water on the hill fires that authorities say have ravaged more than 12 square kilometres (five square miles) of land.

One fire around Simon's Town, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Cape Town, which has South Africa's biggest naval base, has been out of control since Tuesday.

A second has raged on hills around nearby Glencairn where 97 families have been evacuated, a Cape Town city spokesperson told AFP.

Both communities are in the Cape Town metropolitan region and roads into Cape of Good Hope pass through them.

About 300 homes have been evacuated since the start of the blazes. Many families have since returned however.

Teams from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have been rescuing animals in the wild and left in homes.

"The rescue team has found many animals in good health but the vast majority have been found dead, it's very sad," said society spokesperson Belinda Abraham. Most of the dead are lizards and snakes.

With climate change increasing temperatures, Cape Town has suffered worsening summer wildfires in recent years.

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