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30 January 2026
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Fire crews battle large wildfires in the Stanford, Elim areas, Overberg
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“On Thursday, 8 January 2026, two fires that were burning in the Overstrand area spread to Overberg on two fronts from the west crossing into the Overberg Fire area of responsibility. The one fire was traveling fast from the Pearly Beach Road towards Elim and the other one from Stanford towards Sandy’s Glen Napier direction,” said CFO Reinard Geldenhuys, Manager: Emergency Services, Overberg District Municipality.
The perfect storm
“The fires that have picked up momentum during the morning was now running like a steam train. The wind was gusting at 75 km an hour, the humidity was in the twenties and the fynbos was old, in places thirty years plus, intermixed with aliens. The table was set for the perfect storm, and it happened. The Pearly Beach fire line was sprinting covering a distance of 25 kilometres in just under three hours. Nothing could be place in front of the fire and the fire services and landowners were left trying to protect structure as best as possible. Near Viljoenshof/Wolvengat the head of the fire slammed into a small resort outside the village destroying structures. Attempts to get aerial resources in was in vain and ground resources just could not be risked for fear of entrapment and burnover! Structures in the middle between Elim and Wolvengat could not be reached due to the speed and ferocity of the fire and miraculously most of them survived”, said Chief Geldenhuys.
“On the Stanford side a similar fight was underway and later in the afternoon a Blackhawk Helicopter deployed by the Western Cape Government PDMC could be deployed to assist with structure protection on that side.
Fire threatened the Strandveld winery and with smoke levels getting better aerial resources could get in to save the structures.
Eventually the head of the Elim side fire ran into cultivated fields and wetlands allowing landowners and fire services to get a grip on it and stop the progressing of the fire.
On the Stanford side the bulk of the head ran into young veld from a previous burn but smaller flanks and fingers continued to make runs around and would keep us busy till Sunday.
Rough night for Elim
Elim is a small church village outside Bredasdorp consisting of predominantly thatch roof houses. The head of the fire was contained just before nightfall but there was a long line approaching Elim. In a wind change earlier than forecasted the left flank became a roaring head aiming straight for Elim. Heroic efforts by chopper crews, firefighters and landowners prevented large scale destruction and the first waive was fended off. Through the night active firefighting had to be done while residents scrambled onto their roofs with buckets in a war on embers.
Pulling it together
By one o clock Friday morning Elim was relatively safe and services assisted by landowners started working back from Elim towards the west putting in backburns and containment lines in anticipation for the wind change that was due to happen that day. By sunrise the immediate danger flanks were contained and plans for the day was put in place. Ground teams and aerial resources would spend the day dealing with flareups and containing lines on the Wolvengat, Elim and Stanford lines.
By Saturday Elim was under control and the focus shifted to Sandy’s Glen where a high risk backburn was carried out successfully by a combined team of landowners, fire services, WoF and aerial support. Simultaneous to that the same action took place on the northern side and by sunset Saturday the Stanford fire was also contained. Patrols and actively dealing with hotspots would continue for the next forty-eight hours and another attempt of an invasion from the west would be successfully dealt with.
The aftermath
Eventually the Pearly Beach fire burnt a area of 26 116 ha and the Stanford fire15 500 ha. Some of the area burnt was aliens and it burnt hot enough that with the correct follow up a positive difference can be made if regrowth is controlled, but in most cases the areas burnt were active producing flower areas and the losses will lead to economic hardship and job losses in the fynbos flower industry. Many lessons were learnt in this fire, and many lessons will probably still be learnt as various parties unpack this fire going forward. The most important lesson was reiterated: It takes a community, a region, a district of people to contain the perfect storm.”
Source: CFO Reinard Geldenhuys, Manager: Emergency Services, Overberg District Municipality
The perfect storm
“The fires that have picked up momentum during the morning was now running like a steam train. The wind was gusting at 75 km an hour, the humidity was in the twenties and the fynbos was old, in places thirty years plus, intermixed with aliens. The table was set for the perfect storm, and it happened. The Pearly Beach fire line was sprinting covering a distance of 25 kilometres in just under three hours. Nothing could be place in front of the fire and the fire services and landowners were left trying to protect structure as best as possible. Near Viljoenshof/Wolvengat the head of the fire slammed into a small resort outside the village destroying structures. Attempts to get aerial resources in was in vain and ground resources just could not be risked for fear of entrapment and burnover! Structures in the middle between Elim and Wolvengat could not be reached due to the speed and ferocity of the fire and miraculously most of them survived”, said Chief Geldenhuys.
“On the Stanford side a similar fight was underway and later in the afternoon a Blackhawk Helicopter deployed by the Western Cape Government PDMC could be deployed to assist with structure protection on that side.
Fire threatened the Strandveld winery and with smoke levels getting better aerial resources could get in to save the structures.
Eventually the head of the Elim side fire ran into cultivated fields and wetlands allowing landowners and fire services to get a grip on it and stop the progressing of the fire.
On the Stanford side the bulk of the head ran into young veld from a previous burn but smaller flanks and fingers continued to make runs around and would keep us busy till Sunday.
Rough night for Elim
Elim is a small church village outside Bredasdorp consisting of predominantly thatch roof houses. The head of the fire was contained just before nightfall but there was a long line approaching Elim. In a wind change earlier than forecasted the left flank became a roaring head aiming straight for Elim. Heroic efforts by chopper crews, firefighters and landowners prevented large scale destruction and the first waive was fended off. Through the night active firefighting had to be done while residents scrambled onto their roofs with buckets in a war on embers.
Pulling it together
By one o clock Friday morning Elim was relatively safe and services assisted by landowners started working back from Elim towards the west putting in backburns and containment lines in anticipation for the wind change that was due to happen that day. By sunrise the immediate danger flanks were contained and plans for the day was put in place. Ground teams and aerial resources would spend the day dealing with flareups and containing lines on the Wolvengat, Elim and Stanford lines.
By Saturday Elim was under control and the focus shifted to Sandy’s Glen where a high risk backburn was carried out successfully by a combined team of landowners, fire services, WoF and aerial support. Simultaneous to that the same action took place on the northern side and by sunset Saturday the Stanford fire was also contained. Patrols and actively dealing with hotspots would continue for the next forty-eight hours and another attempt of an invasion from the west would be successfully dealt with.
The aftermath
Eventually the Pearly Beach fire burnt a area of 26 116 ha and the Stanford fire15 500 ha. Some of the area burnt was aliens and it burnt hot enough that with the correct follow up a positive difference can be made if regrowth is controlled, but in most cases the areas burnt were active producing flower areas and the losses will lead to economic hardship and job losses in the fynbos flower industry. Many lessons were learnt in this fire, and many lessons will probably still be learnt as various parties unpack this fire going forward. The most important lesson was reiterated: It takes a community, a region, a district of people to contain the perfect storm.”
Source: CFO Reinard Geldenhuys, Manager: Emergency Services, Overberg District Municipality
