Notes from Knysna in the Middle of the Night – “Unfortunately It’s Not Over Yet”
Knysna local ESTER BEUKES wrote the following messages to SAPeople early this morning, while most of us were sleeping… Photos on this page are by DIRK ERASMUS and show the 7 June fires around PE (Draaifontein/Crossways). 03h48 Note 1 Unfortunately it’s not over yet. I woke up with a terrible headache… a sure sign of […]
Knysna local ESTER BEUKES wrote the following messages to SAPeople early this morning, while most of us were sleeping… Photos on this page are by DIRK ERASMUS and show the 7 June fires around PE (Draaifontein/Crossways).
03h48
Note 1
Unfortunately it’s not over yet. I woke up with a terrible headache… a sure sign of smoke. Where yesterday morning at 3 I could report: no fire or glow in our valley, last night 2 fires flared up again. Although it is about 2/3 hills away it burnt the whole night. One is near farms and if it spreads east it will move towards our township area. I can see the lights of the Work On Fire Trucks. I can clearly hear their shouting as there is nothing that can stop the echo. I can see parts of the fire die. But there are still spots that go down and then flare up huge as it gets to trees. Today for the first time I feel emotional. My nightmare is over but those fires mean someone else is going through it…
Note 2
I’ve tried to post regularly to SAPeople so that people can understand, as there are such a lot of sensationalists out there. We have one guy that you either love or hate… as he hates anything government. Unfortunately his house burned down. I took him on on Thursday asking him to stop his political one upmanship and blame game posts as this is not the time and place for it. He said out of love and respect for me he will do something but once this is over he’ll fight the fight again. So he moved into the township area (I’m sure it is in the Rasta area, Juda’s Square). So now his posts are more helpful I see.
Note 3
As I type this the raindrops started again. Hopefully it will be longer than 5 min this time. At last the burning seems down in all areas. I can hear the WoF tearing down a structure… These guys are just so awesome.
Note 4
The WoF teams can’t all be accommodated in Knysna. So some teams are transported to Sedgefield where they are fed by an organization (Round Table or Rotary) and then other organisations take them to George for the night and bring them back in the morning. The army pitched up tents at Red Barn on the Rheenendal Rd. Helicopters fly out to PE every night and back. The saving grace of this Eden District was all the Facebook groups and WhatsApp groups we had. Each estate (and sections within) has a Crime Alert Estate talk WhatsAp. The Estate WA is linked to alarm companies. So these forums were sending out messages by the millions ? but it saved a lot of lives and properties I’m sure…
More photos by Dirk Erasmus:
www.dirkerasmus.co.za/Events/07Jun2017-Fires-around-PE/