I have conflicted feelings about this post. Nature is amazing in her constructive power but at the same time, she has the ability to destroy just as quickly. On the one hand, I want to post this story because it documents what has happened. On the other hand, I want to forget about it, because it is not something nice to remember.
Today marks the third but the worst day of the current wildfires in the Somerset West (Helderberg) area in South Africa.
Another blogger from this area with a different view on things, 
As can be seen in the above image, the fire has come so close to some of the properties. There are some news outlets reporting the vacating of homes. Even though I feel sorry for the property owners, my heart goes out to all the animals and nature. I always feel so depressed when looking at the fire, feeling so helpless as this is nature at her most brutal.
I cannot imagine what the property owners must go through. From afar we watch through our zoom lenses and binoculars. From afar we watch the destruction and we cannot do anything about it.
In real-time, through an iPhone camera and pair of binoculars, we saw how the flames engulfed the communication towers. I am not sure what the extent of the damages is. But the flames got pretty high around the towers. I cannot think that they made it out fine.
Luckily, and I hope this remains the case, the fire did not spread to this side of the mountain where the houses are. But the wind can change and there are some reports that the fire is picking up strength again. But it is not easy to find the truth with so many voices.
I took this photograph at around 18:45. The fire got into the pine trees, and if you know pine trees, they burn violently.
I took this at 20:45. The fire was still going on strongly. The haze looked like a kind of hell. It is scary, luckily I am far away. Again, I cannot imagine how the people that live close by are feeling.
Below I am sharing 5 videos I took throughout the day. The last video was taken not 30 minutes ago. The fire is still going and the wind is picking up.
Here you can see the destructive nature of the fire when it engulfs what I think is a pine tree.
Some heavy black smoke as yet more trees are engulfed. From this angle, the fire looks to be very close to the house.
More big flames in the pine trees.
Later in the evening, the flames got bigger as even more trees got engulfed. The nighttime also makes for a more spectacular emphasis on the flames.
As of 9 PM South African time, the fire is still going.
I really hope the fire stops quickly with the potential rain. But the forecast is saying more strong winds tomorrow. With these types of winds, rain is always scarce. But let us hope for the best.
I am saddened by this post as I sit here and reflect on yet another wildfire. I am editing photographs of some new fynbos flowers that have emerged from a previous fire in the Kleinmond area some 50 kilometers away from here. It seems like the Cape region is set on record numbers of fires this year. Let us hope for more rain. This is also a post to document this sad day. Thank you for reading, if you have read till here. Nature and fire are beautiful their amazing destructive power. Still, it is a sad event.
