The homes of at least five families were gutted by a devastating fire that tore through houses next to the Silwerboomkloof nature reserve in Somerset West over the weekend. News24 quotes City of Cape Town fire services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse as saying that the fire started in the aged pine plantation on the Lourensford estate and was fuelled by a combination of mixed vegetation, unseasonably high temperatures and dry weather. A total of 24 firefighting appliances and almost 100 firefighters have been working to put out the fire and are hoping for help from the rain which has been predicted.
