New evacuation order issued for parts of Pringle Bay as wildfire flares up again

• Residents in parts of Pringle Bay have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
• This is the second evacuation order to be issued this week.
• The fire was contained on Wednesday night, but flared up again on Thursday morning.

Residents of Pringle Bay in the Western Cape have been issued an evacuation notice as firefighters battle to contain a blaze that has been burning since Monday afternoon.

The fire was contained on Wednesday night, said Overstrand Local Municipality manager Dean O'Neill, but it flared up on Thursday morning.

"The municipality is responding with aerial resources in addition to the ground teams," he said.

"Residents are requested to remain vigilant, and an evacuation order has been issued for (Caesar) Road and surrounding areas."

O'Neill estimated that around 800 hectares had been burnt by the fire.

Pringle Bay was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after flames approached the coastal town, while precautionary evacuations took place in Betty's Bay on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, O'Neill said a second fire, at Buffeljags, which started on Monday, was still burning out of control in dense vegetation.

READ MORE | Betty's Bay fire under control, but flames still rage in Buffeljags and Cape Winelands

He estimated that 7 500 hectares had burnt so far.

Meanwhile, fires are still raging in the Cape Winelands.

There has been a large flare-up of the Wolseley fire on the Elandsberg mountain; a fire in Brandvlei, Rawsonville, continues to burn out of control after starting on Monday; and a blaze at Fairy Glen, Worcester, burns on the Kanetvlei side of the mountain.