George Mayor Melvin Naik says firefighters in the Southern Cape are now concentrating on extinguishing the blaze in the vicinity of Knysna.
Fatalities in nearby Karatara now stand at eight.
The inferno has since on Monday moved from George where it wreaked havoc and led to the evacuation of several residential areas.
Naik says the change in focus does not mean that the veld fires do not still pose a risk at George.
“Our water treatment works came under threat yesterday (Monday) and we had to evacuate personnel there and people in the surrounding areas and we had to shut things down there…We had to turn down pressure of the water to the town. Most of our residential areas have been restored, but we suffered severe losses yesterday as far as outages are concerned.”
Meanwhile, the Garden Route District Municipality says they’ve evacuated the small farming community of Rheenebdal near Knysna as fires continue to plague the area.
Fires on the Outeniqua Mountains above George are still smouldering.
Gale force winds are hampering fire fighting efforts in the Garden Route.
Rain has fallen is some parts.
The Robinson Pass that links Mossel Bay to Oudtshoorn is now open again, while the Montague pass still remain closed.
