Fresh fire sends Camps Bay residents running
By Karl Brophy

For the second night running, hundreds of Camps Bay residents were forced to flee their homes after the mountain fire at Oudekraal flared up again.

Firefighters and emergency services battled with the inferno as locals and tourists looked on helplessly once more.

Non-stop waterbombing of the flames by three helicopters on Thursday failed to completely extinguish the embers of Wednesday night's inferno.

The fire re-ignited and began spreading rapidly towards the plush houses just before 11pm on Thursday morning.

Firefighters were immediately on the scene, having maintained a constant flare-up watch, but at first struggled to control the roaring blaze in the face of a fresh south-easter.

A total of 13 water pumps and two tenders, joined by appliances from the Cape Peninsula National Park, fought to force the flames back from some of the most expensive real estate in the city.

Their work was made more difficult as a dense pall of smoke descended on the entire area and fragments of hot ash began raining down.

Two firefighters were taken to hospital on Thursday night and treated for severe smoke inhalation.

Both men were said to be stable and in no danger early on Friday morning.

Police at first advised the evacuation of several roads close to Camps Bay Drive and herded firewatchers away from the worst-affected areas, particularly around the Rontree Estate.

Residents all along Theresa Avenue, which borders the Cape Peninsula National Park, Ravensteyn Road, Ottawa Avenue and Hely Hutchinson Avenue were put on high alert.

Police suggested the evacuating home owners activate sprinkler systems, damp down walls and roofs and move all vehicles.

Some exhausted residents who spent much of Wednesday night on the streets were forced to endure several more hours of anxious waiting in the early hours of Friday morning. Their worst fears were almost realised at 1am, when flames burned into the back gardens of homes on Theresa Avenue before being driven back.

Resident Anthony Smith said: "I'm shattered. It's like the fire is playing with us at this stage, it's flirting with the houses, getting within touching distance before being pushed back.

"And then, again, just when we think it's all over, it will rise up again and start marching back towards the houses.

"I'm luckier than some, but there are houses that have been under severe threat both nights. Windows have been shattered by the heat."

Acting Cape Town fire chief Barry Allers co-ordinated his service's efforts for the second successive night from the scene.

At 2.25am the high-energy effort was declared to be a success when official Weynand Wessels, at the Camps Bay forward command centre, confirmed the immediate danger had passed with the containment of the fire.

With the wind abating considerably, the main front of the fire began spreading up the mountain and away from residential areas in the suburb.

Residents of Theresa Avenue, who were largely protected by a firebreak between the bush and their homes, began returning to their houses.

"We are now engaged in what is a damping-down operation and trying to get as much water on the ground as possible," said Wessels.

"Residents have been assisting us with this through the use of their sprinklers and water hoses.

Wessels did warn, however, that the wet ground would cause more dense smoke to be sent up over the area should the fire reach the damp-protected zones.

Helicopters began moving at first light on Friday morning and began, once again, to water-bomb the mountainside above Camps Bay.

They will continue to operate throughout the day in an effort to finally eradicate any smouldering flames and prevent a third consecutive night-time flare-up.

The fire originally started just before 10pm on Wednesday night in bushes off Victoria Drive, approximately 500m from the Llandudno side of Bakoven.

It swept quickly through dense alien vegetation and, at its height, generated several fireball tornados to light up the Atlantic seaboard.

Police believe that the inferno was started by a vagrant, but have yet to identify a suspect.

This article was originally published on page 2 of The Cape Argus on 10 January 2003