A 42-year-old man accused of having illegally made a fire on Paarl Mountain which caused damage to the area’s fauna and flora, is expected back in court next week.
A 42-year-old man accused of having illegally made a fire on Paarl Mountain which caused damage to the area’s fauna and flora, is expected back in court next week.
The man appeared in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and will make his second appearance next Tuesday on charges relating to the Veld and Forestry Fire Act.
According to a Drakenstein Municipality statement, the man was arrested in connection with the devastating fire which raged on the slopes of the mountain on Saturday.
He was arrested by Drakenstein Municipality’s Law Enforcement division and police.
The municipality said: “The fire raged from around midday on Saturday, and at one stage, firefighting crews and vehicles of no less than five municipalities were involved in battling the blaze. Drakenstein Municipality’s Fire and Rescue Services were assisted by the Cape Winelands District Municipality, Swartland Municipality, Stellenbosch Municipality, and City of Cape Town, as well as aerial support.
The crews managed to bring the fire under control in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“While firefighters were battling the fire, Drakenstein Municipality’s Law Enforcement division received crucial information regarding the alleged cause of the fire.”
The municipality’s head Fire and Rescue Operations and Training, Dereck Peceur, said they immediately informed police about the information they received.
“Our Law Enforcement division immediately informed SAPS who followed up on all the leads and was able to arrest the suspect on Sunday afternoon.
“Drakenstein Municipality is giving our full support to the police in the investigation,” said Peceur.
Peceur said they were notified of a fire on the mountain near Kloof Street at 11am on Saturday.
“When our Fire and Rescue Services arrived at the scene and saw the extent of the fire, we informed the
Cape Winelands District Municipality which immediately sent a ground crew and aerial support to assist our teams,” he said.
At one stage the firefighters were battling fires in four different areas on Paarl Mountain.
“Our focus was to get the fire under control and to protect the properties on the slopes of the mountain. The wind and hot weather conditions also did not help our efforts to quickly extinguish the fire. At around 3pm on Saturday, we called a Code Red and reached out to neighbouring municipalities to assist us in fighting the blaze,” said Peceur.
Cape Times
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