The 2009 Table Mountain fire was a large

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

in and around the

Table Mountain National Park Table Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. It broke out at approximately 20:30 on 17 March 2009 in the vicinity of

Rhodes Memorial The Rhodes Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, is a memorial to the English-born South African politician Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902). The memorial was designed by the renowned architect, Sir Herbert Baker. Location The me ...

and initial fears were that the fire would spread to

UCT The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university s ...

's Upper Campus. The Table Mountain National Park quickly deployed firefighting personnel on the mountain, but the fire spread due to the strong

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

s. At around 23:20 on Tuesday evening, the fire started moving up Devil's Peak and by 00:00 was at the tip and making its way around the mountain to the suburbs of

Tamboerskloof Tamboerskloof is a neighbourhood and suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It lies on the slopes of Lion's Head and Signal Hill, adjacent to the neighbourhoods of Gardens and Bo-Kaap. Tamboerskloof is one of the contiguous group of neighbourhoo ...

, Oranjezicht,

Vredehoek Vredehoek (Afrikaans: "corner of peace" or "peace corner") is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa located in the City Bowl, on the slopes of Table Mountain, between Devil's Peak Estate and Oranjezicht. The suburb was proclaimed after the first ...

and

Gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

on the north side. The flames were engulfing the mountain and the huge amounts of smoke made it hard for rescue and fire-fighting helicopters making their way to the fire. By 00:30, people from the aforementioned areas were told to evacuate due to the strong winds pushing the fire around the mountain. By this time, Fire & Rescue Services had deployed 29 fire engines and 90 firefighters who were assisted by 45 firefighters from the South African National Parks and volunteers of Disaster Management The day following the fire, four helicopters, including a South African National Defence Force

Atlas Oryx The Atlas Oryx (named after the Oryx antelope) is a medium-sized utility helicopter ostensibly developed and manufactured by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation (now Denel Aeronautics) of South Africa. Its largest operator is the South African Air F ...

, were called in at dawn to water-bomb the fire, and to lift a team of firefighters high onto the mountain. Table Mountain National Park Fire Manager Philip Prins said about of park land had been burned: some fynbos, some renosterveld, some grass, and stands of pine trees.

Evacuations

Loudhailers were used to order residents of High Cape to evacuate, as well as in the aforementioned areas. The fire had originally spread from the UCT and Rhodes Memorial area to the other end of the mountain within 2 hours. Hundreds of homeowners did not know that there was a massive fire raging and were woken up and told they had only minutes to flee before the fires would reach the houses. News report indicate that no houses were burnt down. From around 06:00 on Wednesday 18 March 2009, people were allowed to return to their properties. Houses near the top of the building lines, were covered in ash.

Deaths and Injuries

Only 7 people were injured as officials were quick to respond. 2 of them sustained 3rd degree burns. The first - and thus far only - death was that of fisherman Willem Simons. He was a shareholder in the Tuna Hake Fishing Corporation. Simons died from his injuries in hospital. He and his companion were critically injured in the blaze while they were sleeping in bushes in Oranjezicht on the slopes of the mountain. His companion remained in a critical condition.

Road Closures

Firetrucks were positioned along De Waal Drive and the M3, as well as near UCT. The fire reached down to the M3's hospital bend, opposite

Groote Schuur Hospital Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human-to-huma ...

, thus causing traffic officials to close the road and re-route all incoming traffic onto Mowbray Main Road. Other roads which were closed include Tafelberg Road towards the Lower Cable Car Station and Signal Hill Road.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Table Mountain Fire Table Mountain 2009 Table 2009 in South Africa 2009 wildfires March 2009 events in South Africa Fires in Cape Town 2009 disasters in South Africa

Evacuations

Deaths and Injuries

Road Closures

See also

References