ONLY copious amounts of rain will bring real relief to Richards Bay residents battling to breathe as a spate of peat fires fills the air with acrid smoke.
Worst affected are Veldenvlei, Wildenweide and Birdswood, with at least five underground fires reported since the first one in April.
This week alone, City of uMhlathuze Fire & Rescue (F&R) crews poured more than 500 000 litres of water onto the fires, after Mondi and Sappi staff dug deep, wide trenches around the blaze areas to contain their spread.
The fires are located in the conservation areas bordering the plantations.
However, standard bush fire vehicles cannot deliver enough pressure and City F&R Manager, Andrew Vumba has asked that trees be felled so that a structural fire engine can reach the sections.
By Wednesday, Vumba was able to report that only one peat fire was still to be extinguished.
Ongoing problem
The peat fires are a repeat of those a year ago, when again residents were badly affected with respiratory problems caused by the noxious smoke.
Reports of burning eyes, irritation of the nose and throat, headaches and dizziness have been received in the past week, especially in the early mornings when the smoke hangs in the air, and some residents have been treated by doctors.
While every effort is being made to extinguish the peat fires, at least one Wildenweide resident believes that is merely a short-term solution.
‘The fact is that these fires are burning in areas that used to be marshes; you can see that by the type of vegetation.
‘Planting row upon row of water-guzzling trees adjacent to these conservation areas must be affecting the water table.
‘The timber companies have, in the past, removed trees and rehabilitated sections of land next to streams, restoring them to near pristine state. They should do exactly the same in this instance: remove the trees that are draining the wetlands.’
Added to residents’ discomfort is the annual winter controlled burning of forest areas that has spewed huge clouds of smoke into the air this week.
On Sataurday 19/07/2014, a plane kept flying low over the Arboretum area,numerous times, allso spraying something into the air, an hour later, numerous peoples eyes started swelling up, and we had problems breathing, can anyone tell us what was being sprayed into the air? We assumed it was for spraying crops, but why was it spraying while flying over community areas?
I live in veld en vlei and cant take this smoke anymore its so bad at 6 o clock at night that i have to bring all my pets indoor and close all doors and windows i have started getting asma witch i have never had before and bad sinus drip and burning eyes this has to be resolved soon cant go on like this