Your help is needed as fires ravage Thornhill & Knysna

With the terrible news of fires raging around Knysna to our west and Thornhill to our east we are immediately reminded of our own our own experiences of the January 2016 causing many of us in Cape St Francis to evacuate our homes. Let us also not forget how the surrounding areas came to our aid with not only manpower and equipment to fight the raging inferno but also with donations of food, drink, blankets and other resources as the fire threatened to destroy the community.

St Francis Disaster Volunteer Group (SFDVG) is thus appealing to the St Francis community to donate what they can to assist. The SFDVG Command Centre located at the St Francis Bay fire station on St Francis Drive will be open from 8:00am to 10:30am today to make decisions on the way forward and receive whatever donations the community can offer. Alternatively donations can be delivered to the St Francis Links main gate during hours when the control centre is closed. Donations in Jeffreys Bay can be taken to East Coast Cycles in Jakaranda Street, Wavecrest, Jeffreys Bay

To keep abreast of local news on assistance may we recommend that you join the SFDVG Facebook group page https://web.facebook.com/DVGSF.

Late update:from Sarah Jane Swanepoel

Lets get this out there – Spar in St Francis has agreed to be the drop off point. Eye Drops, lip balm, water, energy bars, small packs of snacks for fire fighters, bottled water, dog food and cat food etc.

Please try and get these things there as early as possible so that we can get a vehicle through to Plett and Knysna tomorrow to assist!

Drop off in Jbay is at Chaz Everitt in Fountains mall and and at Chaz Everitt in Humansdorp

Kouga Mayor Elza van Lingen has made the following appeal:

“A crisis is developing in Thornhill, with over 200 people having been evacuated to the Thornhill Community Hall due to the raging fires in the Longmore area.

We are in desperately in need of food and drink, as well as blankets.

Eye drops, food and drink are also needed for the firefighters who will be working throughout the night to contain the fire.

The Kouga Municipality office at 33 Da Gama Road in Jeffreys Bay is the drop-off point for all donations.

We will arrange transport to Thornhill.

This is a major crisis and we ask for your support.”

Stay away

Those wanting to help by travelling to the affected areas,  the best you can do to offer your help is to rather stay away as the N2 is still closed and more traffic congestion will only hinder those actively fighting the fire. The various disaster groups, including SFDVG will keep you informed as to how you can best lend your assistance.

Let’s hope the predicted heavy rainfall materialise.

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