Cape Town’s Battle: 300+ Firefighters Tackle Mountain Blaze for Two Days

Cape Town: Over 300 firefighters battled a two-day blaze on a mountain near Cape Town, South Africa, prompting evacuations from a threatened neighborhood.

Five firefighters were injured, and two were hospitalized. The fire near Simon’s Town, south of Cape Town, started on Tuesday and narrowly spared houses, damaging only one derelict building.

Residents were precautionarily evacuated. Five helicopters sourced water from the ocean to douse the flames. By Wednesday, around 200 firefighters had the situation largely under control, though efforts continued. Wildfires are common in Cape Town’s mountainous regions during the hot, dry months, becoming perilous with strong coastal winds, as observed in the Simon’s Town fire.