Table Mountain Fire (2021)
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The 2021 Table Mountain fire (also known as the Rhodes Memorial fire or Cape Town fire) was a major fire that started on 18 April 2021 in and around
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 ...
and the neighbourhoods of
Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region * Newlands, Western Australia, a town in the Shire of Donnybrook–Balingup Ireland * Newlands Cross, Dublin, named after the former Newlands ...
, Rosebank, Mowbray and
Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch ...
in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The damage to sites in the
Table Mountain Table Mountain (; ) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, cableway or hik ...
area included the
Rhodes Memorial The Rhodes Memorial is a large monument in the style of an ancient Greek temple on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, situated close to Table Mountain. It is a memorial to the English-born South African politician Cecil John Rhodes (1853 ...
, where a restaurant burned down; the upper campus of the
University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...
(UCT), where the Special Collections library was gutted; and
Mostert's Mill Mostert's Mill (Afrikaans: ''Mostert se Meul'') is a historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa. It was built in 1796 and is the oldest surviving complete windmill in South Africa. It was almost completely destroyed by a wildfire on 1 ...
, a historic
windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...
that burned down. In addition, five firefighters were hospitalised.


Fire and response

The wildfire started on the morning of 18 April 2021 near Rhodes Memorial, Devil's Peak in Table Mountain National Park. Firefighters were alerted at . The fire was reported to have been started by a vagrant, and spread through old pine trees and debris, generating its own wind, towards the university campus and city. There was an extreme fire danger alert on the same day, with high temperature and low humidity. Initially, the resulting smoke and wind updrafts caused by the fire prevented aerial firefighting support from being deployed. Later, over 250 firefighters were involved in fighting the fire and four helicopters were used to drop water onto the fire. By 14:10 SAST, students at the University of Cape Town were evacuated. Official warnings were issued for hikers in the
Newlands Forest Newlands Forest is a conservancy area on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, beside the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. It is owned and maintained by the Table Mountain National Parks Board, along with the City Parks Department ...
area of Table Mountain National Park to also evacuate. At 16:05 SAST,
South African National Parks South African National Parks (SANParks) is the body responsible for managing South Africa's national parks. SANParks was formed in 1926, and currently manages 19 parks consisting of , over 3% of the total area of South Africa. Many parks offer ...
(SANParks) announced that the restaurant at Rhodes Memorial had been destroyed in the fire. The M3 road was also closed, with the fire spreading to the other side of it. On 19 April 2021 (8:00 SAST) homes in the
Vredehoek Vredehoek (, ) is a residential suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, located at the foot of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak. It is sandwiched between the two neighbouring suburbs of Oranjezicht and Devil's Peak Estate, the latter of which is oft ...
, Walmer Estate and University Estate area of Cape Town were evacuated as a precautionary measure. This included the evacuation of the Disa Park residential complex. By 15:00 SAST on , firefighters reported that the fire had been "largely contained".


Casualties and damage


Firefighters

On 19 April Western Cape Premier
Alan Winde Alan Richard Winde (born 18 March 1965) is a South African politician and businessman. He is the 8th and current Premier of the Western Cape, having held the position since 2019. He has been a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament si ...
stated that a total of five firefighters were hospitalised. At least four of them were hospitalised due to burn injuries.


Rhodes Memorial

The fire burnt down a restaurant at the Rhodes Memorial and its adjoining chapel.


University of Cape Town

More than six structures at the campus of the University of Cape Town suffered damage. Also affected was the special collections department of the UCT Libraries system, housed in
Jagger Library The Jagger Library (also known as the Jagger Reading Room, previously known as the J. W. Jagger Linear Library) was the main Reference library, reading room of the University of Cape Town Libraries. The building was constructed in the 1930s, name ...
, part of the research wing of UCT's main library. Although a fire detection system prevented the fire from reaching the rest of the main library, the reading room of Jagger Library was gutted by the flames, and some of the rare collections in the special collections department, which held over 1,300 collections and over 85,000 books and other items, were likely lost. A later assessment found that a vast majority of the African Studies Published Print Collection (about 70,000 items) and the entirety of the African Studies Film Collection
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
s (about 3,500 items) had been destroyed, along with documents relating to the university itself as well as any manuscripts or archives being kept in the Reading Room for digitization or after being digitized, but that the rare and antique collections kept underground, including significant documentation and works of the San and
Khoi Khoikhoi ( /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "foragers") peop ...
people who lived in the area in the 1870s, had been preserved. The H.W. Pearson building caught on fire, although the
Bolus Herbarium The Bolus Herbarium was established in 1865 from a donation by Harry Bolus of his extensive herbarium and library to the South African College, which later became the University of Cape Town. Its collection of specimens numbers over 320 000, mak ...
housed within narrowly escaped destruction and water damage. One of the damaged sections was the Plant Conservation Unit, which studies
fossil pollen Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (pale ...
and compared historical photos of sites with the sites in the present day. Their photos are thought to have been digitized, and the sediment cores they were taken from were housed in a different area, but the fossil pollen lab itself was likely destroyed. The fire also caused substantial damage to Cadbol House and La Grotta (administrative buildings) and to the Upper Campus student residences Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall. A number of other buildings suffered minor damage.


Mostert's Mill

The fire also destroyed the
Mostert's Mill Mostert's Mill (Afrikaans: ''Mostert se Meul'') is a historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa. It was built in 1796 and is the oldest surviving complete windmill in South Africa. It was almost completely destroyed by a wildfire on 1 ...
, the oldest working windmill in South Africa, built in 1796, and four thatched cottages behind it.


Newlands

The government reported that an unoccupied ministerial residence owned by the Department of Public Works and used by Labour Minister
Thulas Nxesi Thembelani Waltermade "Thulas" Nxesi (born 9 June 1959) is a South African politician and former trade unionist who was the Minister of Employment and Labour from May 2019 to June 2024. A representative of the African National Congress (ANC), h ...
had been “completely destroyed”.


Aftermath

All academic activities at UCT were suspended for two days following the fire, with some student residences closed and students unable to return to their residences. Most students were able to return to Smuts and Fuller Halls on . As of 2023, a substantial programme is still ongoing to rescue and restore items damaged in the Jagger Library, and to restore the library itself.
Mostert's Mill Mostert's Mill (Afrikaans: ''Mostert se Meul'') is a historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa. It was built in 1796 and is the oldest surviving complete windmill in South Africa. It was almost completely destroyed by a wildfire on 1 ...
was repaired by the Friends of Mostert's Mill, a non-profit organisation; by March 2023, it was reported that the mill had been almost completely restored. The Rhodes Memorial restaurant remained closed two years after the fire.


Investigation

On at 20:10 SAST, a 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of starting the blaze but later released due to a lack of evidence. An investigation into the cause of the fire by South African National Parks concluded that the fire was most likely started by arsonists in throwing a fire starting object out of a vehicle.


See also

* Table Mountain fire (2000) * Table Mountain fire (2006) * Table Mountain fire (2009) *
2015 Western Cape fire season Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number) *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album), 2007 * ''15'' (Phatfish album), 2008 * ' ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Table Mountain fire, 2021 2021 meteorology 2021 in South Africa 2021 wildfires 2021 fires in Africa 2020s in Cape Town April 2021 in South Africa Fires in Cape Town Table Mountain University of Cape Town Fire season 2021 Wildfires in South Africa