On the 23rd of March SANParks – Table Mountain National Park and their contractor NCC Wildfires conducted an ecological burn in middle Tokai. This was done as fynbos areas need to burned in order to be restored and conserved.
Further update provided as of 24th March. SANParks – Table Mountain National Park advises that pockets of unburnt vegetation, which failed to burn yesterday, will be burnt today. There will be approximately 30 minutes worth of burning.
Latest updates by Parkscape:
While the SANParks Fire Department has assured us that no further burns will be conducted at present, large stumps continue to smoulder in the middle Tokai block (Prinskasteel Wetlands A19) where the ecological burn took place on Tuesday. Weather conditions are causing the smoke to “drop” as the night air cools, resulting in a long, low pall of smoke “fog” extending from the burn site across Tokai down to Retreat and Kirstenhof. We do not know for how long the area will continue to smoulder or when weather conditions will change. We have received numerous complaints from residents over the last two days, including as far afield as Hout Bay.
While deeply mindful of the need for ecological burns in aiding conservation endeavours and mitigating wildfire risk, we are equally mindful of the health risk to residents, particularly given we’re in the midst of a global respiratory pandemic. We are addressing residents’ concerns with the relevant authorities, given the respiratory distress caused to many, and the very evident failure on the part of authorities – SANParks and City – to communicate the burn to surrounding communities.
Photos provided by NCC and Parkscape.
