The hot and dry summers that make Cloof so perfect for growing vines are the same as the ones that keep our conservation officer awake at night. Under these conditions fire is an ever-present risk.

The first fire was on 15 January in the game camp. An accidental fire ignited as the alien clearing team was cleaning the water trough. The fire spread quickly through the grass and into a dry Port Jackson block. In about ten minutes, the flames soared 10 metres into the air fuelled by a strong south-easterly wind. The farm’s staff got involved and the fire brigade was called in. Three fire fighting units and a water truck were sent by the fire brigade to assist. The fire started just after 10:00 am and was only put out after 8:00 pm! For the next three days we put out resurgent flames on a two-hourly basis.

The second fire, also on a Friday afternoon, ignited on 19 February on Louws’ Kloof, the farm behind Burghers Post on the other side of the Dassenberg mountain. They had no fire breaks in place and the dense stands of Port Jacksons kept fire fighters from reaching the fire. By the time the fire had burnt through to our fire break, it was really big with strong south easterly winds pushing it over our fire breaks and onto the peak of Dassenberg mountain. Several fire fighting crews from City of Cape Town and West Coast District Municipality were dispatched, but could not reach the fire effectively because of the altitude and lack of roads. A helicopter was sent in from Newlands Forest Fire Station. It took the helicopter three hours to put out the fire and fire crew spent the night on the farm mopping up. The size of the burn has not yet been calculated.