The army has been called in to help fight a veld fire that’s been raging in the Dordabis area since Tuesday.

Khomas governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua said her office is hard at work to make sure veld fires that caused severe damages to five farms at Dordabis in the Windhoek Rural constituency is extinguished as soon as possible. McLeod-Katjirua told New Era yesterday although the fire started on Tuesday, her office was only informed Wednesday night about it. 

“We are consulting the relevant stakeholders to resolve the matter. So far, I have consulted the environment ministry to come on board to assist and I was informed that they are busy loading their equipment to go to the scene. I hope with them on site we will be able to successfully extinguish the fire,” she said. The governor said she also approached the defence ministry to assist with manpower to prevent more harm caused by fire as it spread fast because of wind. An emergency unit of the army was on the ground yesterday. 

“The challenge is there is strong wind in the area and that has made it difficult for the responses to stop the fire. I am still here with the chief regional officer and the chairperson of the management committee trying to find the solution,” she explained. Owner of farm Hamis, Frikie Vries yesterday said grazing and water infrastructure on his farm have been destroyed and fires have raged on in the area. 

The Windhoek Rural councillor, Piet Adams, explained the veld fire broke out at Farm Hamis and Bloukrans in the Dordabis area. “This veld fire spread over to five adjacent farms but could not be extinguished because of the strong winds. We have informed our regional disaster risk coordinator and he approached the Windhoek Fire Brigade, but they could not assist us due to jurisdictional matters. -ljason@nepc.com.na 

Commercial farmers are also trying to assist but we need more hands to extinguish it fully,” he said. He explained if no manpower is deployed to the veld fire, more farms will be affected. “Extensive damage to grazing land has been observed,” added Adams.

-ljason@nepc.com.na