Water bombing helicopters and firefighters worked relentlessly on Friday to bring under control a large wildfire encroaching on the historic Lourensford Estate owned by retail magnate Christo Wiese. The wine farm‚ founded in 1700‚ is among properties which have been threatened or damaged by an inferno that has been raging for the past three days around Somerset West. The four-star Bezweni Lodge was gutted during the week‚ as the fires caused damage put at an estimated R50m. Wiese said on Friday that the blaze was raging in an area above his property‚ which is surrounded by the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland mountains. Wiese was dreading a repeat of a blaze seven years ago that gutted his pine trees‚ resulting in losses of up to R12m. "With the fires you never know‚" he said. "Unfortunately it got out of control again last night because the wind came up, but we have fire fighters‚ fire trucks‚ helicopters. So they are fighting very hard. That is why it doesn’t seem as if there is ...
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