Marthina Mutanga
HEAVY clouds of smoke from numerous veld fires on the outskirts of Windhoek are hovering over the Capital, with the fire brigade working around the clock to contain the blaze that is threatening the lives of residents if not brought under control.
The veld fires, which have spread from the area of Brakwater towards the inner city, have been raging since the early hours of Tuesday.
Harold Akwenye, spokesperson for the City of Windhoek, explained that the Kupferberg/Satanslogt fire near Daan Viljoen is currently out of control due to the windy conditions being experienced today.
“At this stage, the fire brigade cannot attend to all the fires even if they wanted to. Our resources and human capacity will not allow for it, and therefore our colleagues at the frontline will pull all the members together in an attempt to focus all their resources, energy and power on one fire at a time and once they extinguish it, they will move on to the next,” Akwenye said.
He added that fires were also reported at Dobra towards Elisenheim, but that unfortunately the fire brigade will not be able to attend to it until the fighters bring under control the fire at Satanslogt.
When Informanté News arrived at the Elisenheim estate, security guards and volunteers could be seen trying to put out the flames before they spread to the residential area.
A lone firetruck could also be seen trying to extinguish the flames from a different vantage point.
“The resources at our disposal are attending to other emergencies, including veld fires in the immediate surrounding of the city, however, we have sent a team to the Elisenheim estate to assess the fire,” Akwenye concluded.
