2021 Cape Town fire
Fire trucks on the Hospital Bend interchange going into the City Bowl on 19 April
LocationTable Mountain National Park and Southern Suburbs, Cape Town, South Africa
Statistics
Date(s)18 April 2021 (2021-04-18)
08:45 SAST (06:45 UTC)
Burned areaat least 400 hectares[1]
Land useNational park, university, suburban area
Non-fatal injuries5[1]
Map

The 2021 Table Mountain fire (also known as the Rhodes Memorial fire[2] or Cape Town fire[3][4]) is a major fire that started on 18 April 2021[5] in and around Table Mountain National Park and the neighbourhoods of Newlands,[2] Rosebank, Mowbray and Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa. The damage to sites in the Table Mountain area included the Rhodes Memorial, where a restaurant burned down; the upper campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT),[6] where the Special Collections library was gutted; and Mostert's Mill, a historic windmill that burned down.[7] In addition, five firefighters were hospitalised.[1]

Fire and response

The wildfire started on the morning of 18 April 2021 near Rhodes Memorial, Devil's Peak in Table Mountain National Park.[8] Firefighters were alerted at 08:45 SAST (06:45 UTC).[5][6] The fire was reported to have been started by a vagrant,[9] and spread through old pine trees and debris, generating its own wind,[2] towards the university campus and city.[9] There was an extreme fire danger alert on the same day, with high temperature and low humidity.[2]

Initially, the resulting smoke and wind updrafts caused by the fire prevented aerial firefighting support from being deployed.[10] Later, over 250 firefighters[11] were involved in fighting the fire and four helicopters were used to drop water onto the fire.[2][12]

By 14:10 SAST,[13] students at the University of Cape Town were evacuated.[14] Official warnings were issued for hikers in the Newlands Forest area of Table Mountain National Park to also evacuate.[15][5] At 16:05 SAST, South African National Parks (SANParks) announced that the restaurant at Rhodes Memorial had been destroyed in the fire.[13] The M3 road was also closed, with the fire spreading to the other side of it.[16]

On 19 April 2021 (8:00 SAST) homes in the Vredehoek, Walmer Estate and University Estate area of Cape Town were evacuated as a precautionary measure.[17][18] This included the evacuation of the Disa Park residential complex.[1]

By 15:00 SAST on 19 April, firefighters reported that the fire had been "largely contained".[18]

Casualties and damage

Mostert's Mill in 2012 and on 20 April 2021
Jagger Library (which houses UCT's Special Collections) in 2015

Firefighters

On 19 April Western Cape Premier Alan Winde stated that a total of five firefighters were hospitalised.[1] At least four of them were hospitalised due to burn injuries.[19]

Rhodes Memorial

Food left behind at the Rhodes Memorial restaurant after it was evacuated

The fire burnt down a restaurant at the Rhodes Memorial and its adjoining chapel.[16][20]

External images
image icon Remains of Jagger Reading Room[3]
image icon Remains of Cadboll House[3]
image icon The roof of the HW Pearson building burned.[3]

University of Cape Town

More than six structures at the campus of the University of Cape Town suffered damage.[20][21][6][22] Also affected was the special collections department of the UCT Libraries system, housed in Jagger Library, part of the research wing of UCT's main library.[23][24][9] 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.[7][9][25][11] 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 DVDs (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 people who lived in the area in the 1870s, had been preserved.[26][27]

The H.W. Pearson building caught on fire, although the Bolus Herbarium housed within narrowly escaped destruction and water damage.[28][29][3] One of the damaged sections was the Plant Conservation Unit, which studies fossil pollen 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.[30]

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.[31]

Mostert's Mill

The fire also destroyed the Mostert's Mill, the oldest working windmill in South Africa, built in 1796, and four thatched cottages behind it.[9]

Newlands

The government reported that an unoccupied ministerial residence owned by the Department of Public Works and used by Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi had been “completely destroyed”.[20]

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.[32][33][34] Most students were able to return to Smuts and Fuller Halls on 7 May.[35] 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.[36]

Mostert's Mill 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.[37] The Rhodes Memorial restaurant remained closed two years after the fire.[38]

Investigation

On 18 April at 20:10 SAST, a 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of starting the blaze[17][39] but later released due to a lack of evidence.[40] 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.[41]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Table Mountain Fire (2021).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Walters, Tiara (19 April 2021). "PYROCENE CAPE: Our Burning Mountain: Blaze lays siege to Cape Town for third consecutive day". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Charles, Marvin. "UPDATE | Rhodes memorial fire: Firefighter injured, UCT evacuates students as runaway veldfire rages on". News24.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hendricks, Ashraf; Stent, James; Geffen, Nathan. "In photos: the grim aftermath of Cape Town's fire". GroundUp. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "DEVELOPING | Cape Town fire 'not out of the woods yet', UCT suspends classes until 23 April". News24. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Meyer, Warda. "Runaway veld fire: Rhodes Memorial restaurant damaged, hikers and visitors urged to evacuate". News24. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "Table Mountain fire 'burns out of control' in Cape Town". BBC News. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  7. 1 2 Head, Tom (18 April 2021). "Watch | Cape Town fire: Dreadful scenes as UCT Library goes up in flames". The South African.
  8. ↑ "Table Mountain Wildfire Threatens University of Cape Town". US News. 18 April 2021. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Hyman, Aron; Naidoo, Yasantha. "Two firefighters hospitalised as Cape Town heritage gems including Mostert Mill and UCT library gutted". TimesLIVE.
  10. ↑ Tembo, Theolin (18 April 2021). "Cause of Rhodes Memorial blaze believed to be an unattended vagrant fire". www.iol.co.za. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  11. 1 2 Wroughton, Lesley. "South Africa wildfire burns University of Cape Town, library of antiquities". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  12. ↑ "Cape Town wildfire forces evacuation of university students". Shropshire Star. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  13. 1 2 Walters, Tiara (18 April 2021). "NEWSFLASH: Pyrocene Cape II: 'Out-of-control' Table Mountain fire forces UCT evacuation". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  14. ↑ Mlamla, Sisonke (18 April 2021). "UCT students, staff evacuated as out of control fire rages on by Rhodes Memorial". www.iol.co.za. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  15. ↑ "WATCH | In the heart of the runaway Rhodes Memorial fire with hikers, joggers and firefighters". TimesLIVE. 18 April 2021. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  16. 1 2 Tembo, Theolin. "Rhodes Memorial Restaurant has burnt down, confirms Table Mountain National Park". IOL.
  17. 1 2 McCain, Nicole. "Man arrested as City of Cape Town investigates arson in Table Mountain blaze". News24. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  18. 1 2 Keeton, Claire. "UPDATE Cape Town fire 'largely contained at this stage'". Times Live. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  19. ↑ "Cape Town firefighters continue to battle blaze". eNCA. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  20. 1 2 3 Davis, Rebecca. "Calculating the losses of Cape Town's three days of Hell". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  21. ↑ SONDAY, AAMIRAH. "Fighting fires at UCT: Collaboration was key". News University of Cape Town. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  22. ↑ Ehlinger, Maija; Formanek, Ingrid; Dean, Sarah; Paget, Sharif. "'Out of control' fire breaks out in Cape Town's Table Mountain National Park". CNN Travel. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  23. ↑ "Library Maps | UCT Libraries". www.lib.uct.ac.za. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  24. ↑ "Libraries Special Collections". Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  25. ↑ "A message from @UCTLibrary Executive Director Ujala Satgoor on the fire that devastated the Reading Room of the Jagger Library where @UCTLibrary_SC situated". Twitter. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  26. ↑ "73,500 valuable items lost from African Studies collection in UCT library fire". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  27. ↑ Friedman, Barbara. "Precious historical 19th century San archive saved in UCT library fire". CapeTalk. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  28. ↑ Craig Hilton-Taylor. "I heard from Callen Cohen that the fire in the Pearson building is out and that the Bolus is safe". Twitter. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  29. ↑ Alex Lansdowne. "The top floor was burnt but it did not get to the Herbarium". Twitter. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  30. ↑ Nordling, Linda (19 April 2021). "'The damage is total': fire rips through historic South African library and plant collection". Nature. 592 (7856): 672. Bibcode:2021Natur.592..672N. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-01045-4. PMID 33879878.
  31. ↑ Phakeng, Mamokgethi (29 April 2021). "Update on #UCTFire damage" (Press release). Cape Town: University of Cape Town. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  32. ↑ Sullivan, Helen. "Students evacuate Cape Town university as fire damages historic buildings". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  33. ↑ Phakeng, Mamokgethi. "Fire affecting the Rondebosch campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT)". UCT News. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  34. ↑ Qukula, Qama. "'UCT students could return to res - except Smuts and Fuller - within 72 hours'". CapeTalk. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  35. ↑ University of Cape Town [@UCT_news] (7 May 2021). "UCT is excited to welcome back students from Fuller & Smuts this morning following the recent fires that affected the residences. The university has been hard at work to prepare the residences for the safe return of most of the students" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 May 2021 – via Twitter.
  36. ↑ Viljoen, Nettalie (18 April 2023). "Salvage of fire-damaged Special Collections at Jagger Library continues two years after UCT blaze". People's Post.
  37. ↑ Steyn, Daniel (9 March 2023). "Mostert se Meul herrys uit die as". Maroela Media. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  38. ↑ Viljoen, Nettalie (18 April 2023). "Delay in restoration of burnt-down Rhodes Memorial restaurant and tea room a tender point". People's Post.
  39. ↑ "'Out of control' fire breaks out on Table Mountain". BBC News. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  40. ↑ Isaacs, Lauren. "NPA says man accused of starting Cape fire cannot be linked to arson". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  41. ↑ Jordan, Bobby (24 June 2021). "Object thrown from car started UCT fire, investigation concludes". TimesLIVE. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
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