Morning has indeed broken with Cape Town shrouded in smoke from veld fires in Somerset West:
Fires in Somerset West have flared up again after being briefly brought under control, fire services said. Helicopters were unable to assist in fighting the fires because of the smoke clouds, platoon commander Clive Smidt told News24 on Monday morning.
The fire department had to rely on fire trucks to get the fires under control, he added. About 30 fire trucks were on the scene and more would be dispatched later on Monday morning. Smidt said the fires had been under control, but flared up again because of the wind.
Fire-fighting helicopters unable to fight fires because of the smoke coming from the fires they’re supposed to be fighting? There’s a limitation there: anyone spot it?
Meanwhile, I snapped a quick pic in the rather ethereal light this morning.
Smokey sunrise
Everything is weird shade of peach, the mountain is still partially obscured through the haze and my car is getting covered in ash.
EDIT: Here’s the view from town this lunchtime. Somewhere in there is 1,086m of flat mountain.
Shrouded
EDIT 2: More smokey sun pics at CapeTalk (HT: Darkwing)
EDIT 3: Argus: “arson is to blame“