Wind fans Cape Town mountain fire, residents near Devil’s Peak on high alert
Vagrant’s fire may have started the destruction
Cape Town’s City Bowl residents are on high alert on Monday morning as strong winds fan the fires that ignited on Sunday.
TimesLIVE video reporter Anthony Molyneaux said strong winds picked up overnight.
"The wind has pushed the mountain top fire down to Tafelberg Road and is close to Vredehoek, south easterly wind is blowing at 46km/h. This day ahead will be very challenging for our fire fighters and EMS personnel," the 1Second traffic alert service shared on Facebook.
Resident Dylan Moore posted: "Roads above Chelmford have been evacuated in Vredehoek. Fire is raging and the downwind isn’t helping! Been up since 4am keeping an eye on the situation as we’re right next to Herzlia. Packed our bags in case this wind forces the flames down to us."
On Sunday night, the City of Cape Town reported the wildfire on the slopes of Table Mountain National Park continued to burn and firefighting efforts to contain the blaze would continue throughout the night.
The fire is reported to have started just before 9am on Sunday close to Hospital Bend, moved up towards Rhodes Memorial and then towards the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) upper campus.
UCT said the campus was on lockdown, with only emergency personnel allowed on the premises. The university safely evacuated 4,000 students and has made emergency accommodation and food available for them.
On Sunday SanParks said an initial investigation pointed to a fire vacated by a vagrant as the origin of the blaze.
“One of the major contributors to the rapid rate of spread was the very old pine trees and their debris. The fire created its own wind that further increased the rate of spread. The excessive amount of smoke and related updrafts made it impossible for aerial support to slow the rate of spread,” it said.
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