After firefighter's death, WC govt urges residents to avoid sparking fires Over the weekend, a firefighter from the Overberg district died while battling a wildfire in Barrydale. Picture: @wo_fire/Twitter 48 days ago CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape government has called on residents to take every precaution to avoid sparking fires. Over the weekend, a firefighter from the Overberg district died while battling a wildfire in Barrydale. The blaze started a week ago. Two colleagues also had to be rushed to hospital while trying to bring a fire under control in the Gansbaai area. The provincial Local Government Department's James Brent-Styan: "We're at the very peak of our regular fire season, very strong winds, very hot conditions make the risk very high at the moment, so we want to ask people to be very responsible, to call the emergency services as quickly as possible if the fire does get out of hand."