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Around 95% of a nearby nature reserve had also burned, the government said.Residents of Pringle Bay were moving to a nearby town, local authorities said, while firefighters battled to get remaining fires under control. Helicopters were scooping up water from the ocean and dumping it on the fires, a common tactic in the region.Wildfires have broken out in numerous parts of South Africa’s Western Cape province in recent weeks, including one on the slopes of the world-famous Table Mountain overlooking Cape Town over the weekend. It was quickly brought under control.The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said its firefighting crews were working on wildfires in four regions of the Western Cape. One fire had been burning for nine days.A huge fire swept across Table Mountain in 2021, causing extensive damage and taking days to put out.The main causes of the wildfires are discarded cigarettes, people lighting cooking fires or burning debris and sometimes arson, according to the Western Cape local government. Coastal winds fan the blazes and can make them unpredictable.
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South Africa evacuates small coastal communities near Cape Town as wildfires burn out of control
