A fire that erupted on the lower reaches of the mountain above Muizenberg on Sunday 15 June scorched about 28 hectares of veld that’s at least 10-years-old.
The City’s Fire and Rescue Service was alerted on Sunday morning at 08:00 of mountain slopes alight above Boyes Drive, said the City’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse.
“Several resources were dispatched to the scene as well as the Incident Management Team type four to coordinate operational functions. Fire crews used water from the various fire engines and bush beaters and spades where the terrain was inaccessible.”
South African National Parks (SANParks) sent two fire crews with four tankers and two skid units to assist the City’s firefighters battling the blaze, SANParks head of communications JP Louw confirmed.
“Volunteer Wildfire Services were brought in as the fire spread, and the City of Cape Town’s fire tankers and crew assisted throughout the day… The fire was driven by strong and variable ‘berg’ winds, which made conditions difficult for the ground crews to fight the fire.”
The following day the fire was extinguished and further assistance was no longer required at 16:20.
Boyes Drive was closed and re-opened to the public on Sunday evening.
According to Louw, the cause of the fire remains under investigation but early indications revealed it was started by a religious group.
“Park rangers found several religious groups illegally starting fires in the area on Sunday 15 June. They were removed from the site and fined for violating fire safety regulations. Investigations will commence into the cause of the fire.”
The group was issued a R2 000 fine.
SANParks rangers have previously encountered religious groups starting fires.
“However, these fires were usually extinguished before they could escalate into wildfires. Our rangers conduct patrols in areas that are high-risk for this type of activity,” said SANParks spokesperson, Charles Phahlane.
There were one or two smaller pockets of older vegetation that were destroyed during the fire. “Ecologically the damage is the same as the Tokai burn in April and within an acceptable threshold for mountain Fynbos,” Louw said. No infrastructure or residential properties were damaged. “No major injuries were sustained by firefighters, but a Volunteer Wildfire Services firefighter received medical assistance for smoke inhalation.”
SANParks sent a special thanks to a top eatery for the donation of hot meals and the public who dropped off bottles of water to assist the firefighters. “Fynbos is a fire-adapted and fire-driven system, and this area will benefit from the fire as the vegetation age is within an acceptable ecological threshold,” Louw said.
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