A massive fire on the Makhanda municipal rubbish dump fuelled by gale-force winds threatened to overwhelm adjacent horse-riding club on Tuesday.
More than 30 horses were evacuated from the stables to nearby camps as the Makhanda fire department did all they could to fight the flames threatening the riding club.
A black pall of toxic smoke blew across most of the small city, leading to a furious outpouring by residents on social media against the Makana Municipality.
Local private schools, Kingswood College, Diocesan School for Girls, St Andrews as well as nearby farmers and the 6 SA Infantry army base sent their firefighting equipment and staff to assist the riding club members and the grooms to fight the blaze. The local SPCA’s Mark Thomas kept a sharp eye on the welfare of the horses. He said his staff were on standby to evacuate the horses to the SPCA premises if required.
Some of the club’s arenas were badly burnt along with some of the showjumping equipment. At the time of writing, none of the stable blocks had been affected.
Two years ago a fire from the dump jumped across to the riding club, taking out almost 30 stables and causing millions of rands in damage to other infrastructure.
Rhodes University on Tuesday indicated it could also send its tanker to assist with the blaze if required. The tanker was delivering water to desperate residents in Joza in Grahamstown East after a power outage at one of the major pump stations left much of the city’s taps dry.
Grahamstown Riding Club chairperson David Rodgerson on Tuesday thanked the local community for its support. He heaped praise on the chief of the fire department William Welkom and his team.
“They are once again doing their best to mop up the mess the municipality has caused with its negligence.”
The fire continued to burn fiercely on Tuesday afternoon as firefighters battled to stop the blaze in the deep rubbish. The gale-force winds are predicted to continue to midnight...