In this photo taken Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, a fire is fought in Somerset West near Cape Town, South Africa. Authorities say wildfires raging in South Africa’s wine region have destroyed part of one of the country’s oldest estates, while some slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain burned. (Photo by STEFAN SMUTS/AP)
JOHANNESBURG — Authorities say wildfires raging in South Africa’s wine region have destroyed part of one of the country’s oldest estates, while some mountain slopes in Cape Town burned.
City spokesman J.P. Smith said Thursday that firefighters worked through the night to try to contain 106 blazes in the area. He says no one has been killed.
Low rainfall, dry vegetation and strong winds create prime conditions for fires in the region in summer. Two years ago, a fire on Table Mountain lasted for nearly two weeks.
Farm manager Don Tooth says around 40 percent of the Vergelegen wine farm that was established by Dutch settlers in the 1700s has been destroyed by fire.
Fires also burned on the slopes above Cape Town’s exclusive beach enclave of Llandudno.