Free State fire destroys 77,000ha of fields for grazing
Farmers battled for more than six hours to extinguish a runaway fire at the weekend that destroyed about 77‚000ha of land in the Free State.Farmers between Bloemfontein and Kimberley lost millions of rand as the inferno tore across grazing fields‚ destroying a lapa‚ animal feed store and tractor.Malcolm Procter from the Department of Agriculture‚ Forestry and Fisheries and Free State Agriculture CEO Gerhard Kriel visited the area on Tuesday afternoon, to determine the extent of damage."At this stage we estimate the fire damage to stand at 77‚000ha. The fire started at 1pm on Saturday and it was extinguished by 7.30pm on the same evening. The implication is that 12‚000ha burnt every hour, or 200ha a minute‚" Procter said.He said farmers rallied together to extinguish the fire as there were no emergency personnel or firefighters on the scene to douse the flames. Procter said wind speeds of up to 40km/h were forecast for that day and suggested that somebody cooking at the roadside coul...
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