The town of Paarl in South Africa’s Western Cape, the centre of deciduous fruit production, has been hit by two blazes which have affected the fruit sector.
Last Friday, a devastating fire took hold at Paarl Print, one of South Africa’s biggest printing companies, which prints a large number of the country’s popular magazines, including the South African Fruit Journal. The huge building was gutted and 11 people were killed in the blaze.
The media group’s ceo, Stephen van der Walt, said: “Bricks and mortar can be rebuilt, but losing members of our team is the biggest tragedy and our priority at this time. We have all lost close friends and colleagues and still have employees whom are critically injured in the hospital.”
Four days after the devastating fire at Paarl Print, Paarl rescue services were called to a fire that broke out at the coldstorage warehouse of Novo Fruit Packers in Dal Josaphat, shortly after 9am.
The fire was brought under control but caused major damage to the fruit packing facility.
Willem Bestbier of Novo (part of Colors Fruit group) said that although the damage caused by the fire was a great financial setback, this will not affect their export business. “Most of the fruit which was in coldstorage is damaged, and of course we have lost almost a complete structure and its contents,” he said. “We are just very grateful that nobody was seriously injured.”
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