[imagesource: Facebook / Parkscape]
It’s summer in Cape Town, which means intense winds blowing for days on end, GP licence plates at every robot, and fires.
On Friday evening, a fire broke out on Table Mountain and the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway temporarily closed for business, only resuming operations on Sunday morning once the blaze had been contained.
It began in Fountain Ravine in the Kasteelspoort section.
The sound of choppers greeted residents of the City Bowl throughout Saturday until around 5PM when firefighters had to stand down due to cloud coverage.
This made it tough to access water sources.
By 6PM on Saturday, SANParks spokesperson Lauren Howard Clayton said the fire was ”100% contained”.
News24 reports:
…fire damage to sections of the wooden boardwalk at the upper cableway station after a two-day mountain blaze means this area will be closed to the public until further notice…
“As of 08:20 on Sunday, our operations [were] able to resume. The temperature at the top of the mountain is mild and visibility poor. Some pathways at the top will be inaccessible due to fire damage,” said [Wahida Parker, managing director of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company].
As things stand, the cause of the fire is unknown.
Let’s see some of the standout footage shot over the weekend:
Reminder:@TableMountainCa services suspended!
We’d like to urge visitors to please stay clear of the area for your own safety. Kindly note that drones are NOT permitted within Table Mountain National Park.#SANParks #FireSeason #Fire #TableMountain #tablemountainnationalpark pic.twitter.com/GQwGu1r8eK
— SANParks TMNP (@TableMountainNP) October 29, 2022
This is what the fire activity looks like at this fire pic.twitter.com/frAFIrOUNY
— NCC Wildfires (@NCCWildfires) October 29, 2022
Table Mountain Fire continues to burn, status at 11am on 29th October, no wind thank goodness, choppers and spotter plane on scene at 11:30am @TableMountainNP @TableMntnWatch @TableMountainCa @vwsfires #tablemountainfire pic.twitter.com/TVopJ2YX0E
— Ian Merrington (@CapeInnovation) October 29, 2022
Last nights table mountain ravine fire at its peak around 9:45 pm above Camps Bay. Wind abated around midnight and we dodged a bullet in Rontree for sure! Fire season is upon us @vwsfires @wo_fire @TableMountainNP @SANParks @TableMntnWatch @CityofCT @News24 pic.twitter.com/5v6LTlJqte
— Ian Merrington (@CapeInnovation) October 30, 2022
Rescue services also had to intervene and help out a group of 12 hikers on Saturday who became “overwhelmed” by the smoke and needed to be brought down from Platteklip Gorge.
As always, a huge thanks goes to the rescue teams who were on the ground (and in those choppers) to contain the blaze before further damage could be done.
A huge word of thanks to the firefighters who worked tirelessly to bring the fire under control.#TableMountain #TableMountainUpdate #TableMountainAerialCableway pic.twitter.com/vFatsro8R4
— Table Mountain C/Way (@TableMountainCa) October 30, 2022
VWS, one of the organisations responsible for fighting fires, relies on donations from the public and businesses to meet its annual running costs.
You can support and donate here and find out more about becoming a VWS volunteer here.
[source:news24]
