[imagesource:x/@TableMountainNP]

It’s been a hectic fire season this year.

Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) said it had recorded 22 fires in just two weeks, from January 1 to 18.

On 19 January, the park addressed the surge in fires in Cape Town, saying most of them were caused by “deliberate malicious intent”, per TimesLIVE.

They mentioned that a “concerning pattern has emerged”, referring to the majority of recent fires occurring in the southern section of the TMNP – namely in the Kalk Bay, Ocean View and Redhill areas – as well as in the north of the park, in the Signal Hill and Pipe Track areas.

“Fires in these areas can pose a significant risk to communities living adjacent to the park, particularly with the hot temperatures and strong wind conditions currently being experienced,” said TMNP.

Just this weekend, the icon of the Mother City caught on fire. The fire began raging around midday on Tafelberg Road on Saturday, 27 January, causing the aerial cableway to close while SANParks and the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway began evacuating people from the cable cars.

Table mountain is on fire 😞 not AI pic.twitter.com/t1yEAAhY5A

— Matt (@mattsouthwark) January 27, 2024

With a full evacuation in progress – individuals caught in the smoke and blaze were swiftly carried to safety at the 12 Apostles area, per The Citizen – three Huey helicopters, a spotter plane, as well as firefighter crews from TMNP, NCC Wildfires Newlands and Kloofnek, were deployed to extinguish the potentially devastating fire. It was also reported that a fast and furious firefighting Black Hawk helicopter was dispatched.

Lots of resource being deployed to the Table Mountain fire @vwsfires @wo_fire @TableMountainNP @TableMountainCa @CapeTown @CapeTalk #tablemountainfire pic.twitter.com/fG8UdoRZam

— Ian Merrington (@CapeInnovation) January 27, 2024

Fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said via SABC News that all the firefighting efforts were effective:

“The swift action of not only city firefighters but also crews from TMNP and NCC prevented the fire from moving over to the Camps Bay side of the mountain. All people on the mountain were safely evacuated by cable car and via Platteklip Gorge. Crews will be working tirelessly throughout the evening to extinguish the blaze.”

The reason for the fire was that a vehicle caught alight and the fire quickly spread to nearby vegetation, per TMNP spokesperson Lauren Clayton:

“The first arriving officer quickly assessed the situation and reinforcements were immediately called upon. We have a total of eight firefighting resources on scene, assisted by crews from TMNP,” Clayton added.

Table Mountain caught on fire just as the Western Cape government increased its wildfire budget by R3 million (bolstered from R16 million to R19 million) since there are still clearly a few months left of fire season.

Meanwhile, Enviro Wildfire investigated three major fires in Cape Town over the past few months, having suspected they had been started with “malicious intent”.

A report on the veld fire that erupted on Slangkop, Ocean View, a few weeks ago, mentioned it was caused by dry-cut alien vegetation that had potentially been ignited with a cigarette lighter.

Another fire that occurred on the same day between Pinehaven and Da Gama Park, which spread towards Scarborough in the late evening, was ignited with malicious intent and is being further investigated, said Enviro Wildfire.

Similarly, the recent fire above Boyes Drive in Kalk Bay burnt about 73 hectares of veld and was also said to have been started with malicious intent.

SANParks said it would like to take this opportunity to request that the public continue to be vigilant and report any fires or suspicious activity immediately.

[sources:citizen&timeslive]