Leanne and I live on a farm in the Goukamma Valley with our family of 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses, 1 pony, 2 cows and a flock of chickens. This is how we experienced the Great Knysna Fire of 2017.
Tuesday, 6 June 2017
The WCED issued a directive closing school for Wednesday, 7 June 2017 on the strength of a severe weather warning predicting dangerously high winds and (ironically) rainfall.
Wednesday, 7 June 2017
We headed through to town, me to do some work at school and Leanne to run some errands. As we approached Knysna we commented on the strange weather and the low cloud, not realising it was smoke.
Once in town, we started hearing reports of a terrible fire at Elandskraal, northwest west of Knysna and north of the Goukamma Valley. We found out that one of my colleagues and his family had lost all their possessions and evacuated the area when the house they rented in Elandskraal was raised to the ground. Little did we know how quickly that fire was spreading in a southeasterly direction through Rheenendal, Bibby’s Hoek and down Phantom Pass to the Knysna River valley.
We headed west out of town on the N2 which follows the shore of the Knysna Estuary. The road was bumper-to-bumper traffic. I switched the hazards on and slotted in behind an emergency vehicle to pass the stationary cars along the lagoon section of the N2, something I had never resorted to before. The authorities had blocked the N2 on the White Bridge — the actual bridge part of the causeway that carries the N2 across the Knysna Estuary.
We had some contact with Brian on the farm, but it was hard to understand exactly what the situation was at home.
As we waited, our big 2-ton bakkie was being rocked alarmingly in the hot wind that was gusting across the bridge. We could hear gas bottles exploding as houses were being consumed by the fire as it lunged towards the N2 at Keytersnek (the hill between the Knysna Estuary and the Goukamma Valley). Massive flames were flung huge distances across the N2 to the Belvidere side creating spot fires ahead of the actual line of the fire until that too swept across the N2 in front of our eyes.
Whilst pacing up and down the N2, chatting to people, I watched as the fire jumped the Knysna River in the vicinity of the Red Bridge and the Old Drift.
At this stage, we were unaware of the drama playing out with our neighbours who were busy evacuating their horses down the N2 to our farm.
As the scale of the fire became apparent, I realised we would not reach the farm and that the fire was now a direct threat to the town of Knysna itself. Leanne’s parents live in the suburb Knysna Heights which is on the crown of the hill above the town. They were now between the fire and the town, so we headed into town and up to their house to make sure that they were ready to evacuate.
We fled the Cul de sac and turned right into Templeman Drive only to see the fire sweeping up the road less than 100m behind us. Templeman Drive was the hardest-hit street in Knysna. At first, we headed to an office building at the bottom of town, but as the light failed it was clear that the fire had entered the town from the west, and we no longer felt safe. We moved closer to the estuary and parked near the water’s edge where the Ashmead channel separates the town and Thesen Island. Night fell.
Thursday, 8 June 2017
The fire department let us know that the N2 had been re-opened and we left for the farm at about 01h00. We slept fitfully until dawn with alarms set for every hour so that we could check the surrounding area for fire.
Thursday morning was the first time we were able to see just how close the fire had come to destroying the farm on the previous day. The fire had swept down the valley, taking Blackwaters with it, across the N2, over the railway through the dense trees and halfway across the green grass of the paddocks on that side of the farm.
Friday, 9 June 2017
We seemed to be in the middle of everything. Even though the main fire that ravaged Knysna Town had died down and people were returning to their houses, the Goukamma Valley was still thick with smoke and the helicopters passed regularly overhead presumably heading north to the fire.
By lunchtime, I had confronted a group of men who were clearly amongst the criminal element that had come to see if they could pillage any properties that had been evacuated and keeping an eye out for others became one more worry.
We spent another night punctuated with hourly alarm clocks and patrols around the house with smoke filling the valley and numerous points around us where the sky glowed deep red.
Saturday, 10 July 2017
This was to be the worst day for us on the Farm. The fire had moved fast in a southeasterly direction, and now, 3 days later, a swing in the wind direction was pushing it south down to Sedgefield.
Jo called me to say that there was someone for me at the gate. The George NSPCA arrived along with a whole lot of strangers with big bakkies and horse boxes; the word had gone out that we needed to be evacuated and the cavalry had arrived.
08h47
Our two horses and little old Welsh pony were boxed, and Leanne hopped into the horse box with Dune without knowing where they were headed. Originally the plan was to take them to Red Barn in Rheenendal) but they ended up being taken to safety on the Knysna Junior School sports fields.
My heart broke as I saw Buddy looking back through the car window as he was evacuated from the farm in a family member’s car.
Jo and I remained on the farm. We blocked the downpipes of the farmhouse gutters and filled them with water. Anything that could hold water was on standby next to the swimming pool.
11h28
The photo below was taken from the farmhouse looking across the valley to where the N2 heads to Sedgefield to the west. You can just glimpse flames through the thick smoke on the extreme left as the fire crawls down the slope to the valley floor.
13h52
The point at which I possibly felt most helpless was early in the afternoon while I was down in the paddocks and saw the flames and smoke behind the cabin on the hillside above the valley opposite us across the river. I could see two people working at the front of the house and was fairly sure they did not realise what danger they were in as the flames moved closer through the pine stands behind the house. I had no luck posting messages on Facebook groups in an attempt to contact them or get their phone number to warn them.
14h56
From the driveway outside the house, I continued to watch and despair when miraculously one of the three SAAF Oryx helicopters that had been deployed to the area arrived on the scene: talk about the cavalry arriving! The helicopter dumped water on the blaze behind the house, flew across and down to the river just in front of where we were standing, filled the bucket from the river and then rose and flew low over the farmhouse as they circled back around the valley to dump more water. They were low enough that I could see the pilot’s face and I could wave and fist-pump encouragement. They made 4 or more loops dousing the flames behind the house before moving off.
Sunday, 11 June 2017
Tuesday, 13 June 2017
16 June 2017 onwards
Fires were still smouldering in the hills around the valley a week after the main fire.
The aftermath
Residents of the area were deeply affected by the disaster and seeing people in shock, covered in soot became the norm. You will not meet someone who lived through the ordeal and does not become instantly on edge at the smell of burning.
Students at Knysna High School express themselves as part of the healing process.
A visit to the Reflection Seed Pod on Leisure Island will give you some insight into how the community has since dealt with the process of healing.
Initial reports claimed that a lightning strike started the fire, but subsequent independent reports established that the origin was a fire that had been smouldering deep in an inaccessible kloof. It was also established that the authorities had been aware of this fire for quite some time before the conditions resulted in the full ignition of the disastrous blaze.
Many residents took measures to feed the wildlife in the area and bird feeders became standard issue in most gardens.
- Helfrich, K. (2017). SAAF helos deliver over 700 000 litres of water onto Cape fires – defenceWeb. Retrieved 4 December 2022, from https://www.defenceweb.co.za/sa-defence/sa-defence-sa-defence/saaf-helos-deliver-over-700-000-litres-of-water-onto-cape-fires/
Discover more from Cape-Hike
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.