Table Mountain Fires

As many of you may have seen or heard about in the news this week, Table Mountain had a very large fire. Fires are very common on this mountain at this time of year, a combination of dry hot weather and lots of wind. The wind has been howling for the majority of the time that I've been here, a wind reffered to by locals as The Cape Doctor as it's believed to blow away all bad omens.
This past week there was an especially bad fire that received a considerable amount of news coverage because it was on the main part of the mountain, started by a tourist and killed one person. A UK tourist threw a cigarette out his car window and the mountain quickly was on fire. The wind spread the fire over a considerable amount of area, but luckily, many say it was the strong wind that kept people off the mountain and prevented them from using the cable car which opened late in the morning due to the severity of the wind. One UK woman died, likely a result of smoke inhalation, and she was hiking on the mountain with her daughter. The man who started the fire was seen doing so by a Table Mountain Park warden who was able to call a colleague and have him arrested, but unable to put out the fire which spread so rapidly.
There was minimal property damage, but many trees and fynbos were ablaze, and some people did need to be evacuated.
Luckily, the wind has died down considerably, and yesterday we had a lovely day at Fish Hoek beach.
Below are some photos from various sources...

Table Mountain fire pics







Fish Hoek