A fire which has been burning at a landfill site in Pietermaritzburg for a week is on the verge of being extinguished.

The Msunduzi municipality said at about 5.30pm on Friday that the fire was "97%" put out.

"The teams are on site working towards extinguishing the last remaining fires, and indication is that by 10pm they will have reached this goal," the statement said.

If the fire was fully extinguished by Friday night, then firefighters from eThekwini and Mgungundlovu - who had been called in to help - would be released on Saturday morning, as would Working on Fire.

The KwaZulu-Natal government had previously warned that the municipality could face legal action over the fire, which forced the closure of several schools as smoke covered large parts of the provincial capital.

- TimesLIVE