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A fire has been raging for hours in Davidskraal. There are at least two helicopters on a loop, scooping sea water and dumping it onto the flames. I saw a small yellow airplane that dumped some kind of liquid and sped-off to go refill. I think it said "Fire bomber" on the side of the fuselage. There's also another small plane flying in constant circles up high; I surmise it's spotting for the helicopters and they're in contact by radio. (Anyone know where these planes land?)

As far as I can tell, from my fixed vantage east of the fire, the blaze is in the wetland area and has (thus far) been kept away from houses. A huge plume of ever-shifting coloured smoke is painting a new mountain in the sky. I've been in that kind of fire, twice. It's no fun with the smoke making it hard to breathe as you pack your life into a few bags, ready to run.

Good luck to everyone. Brave people out and up there!

Update

It's the next day (Sunday March 1) and the fire has been controlled. I heard that the crews worked all night. Driving around we could see small white plumes that showed where fire still burned and we hope it doesn't get the chance to flare-up again.

We also saw the helicopters at work and on the ground - in the Harold Porter parking lot. I've added some more photos.

For you twitterers, keep an eye on this page: https://twitter.com/vwsfires

Here are some photos I took from about one kilometre away. (Some through my binocs!)

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