Cape Town blaze under control as community rallies after wildfire threatens Bo-Kaap neighbourhood

A mountain on fire on the slopes of Bo Kaap in Cape Town, pictured here at the Green Point Athletic Stadium. (Photo: Mujaheed Daniels)

By Kristin Engel

6 Feb 2025

As Cape Town prepared for President Cyril Ramaphosa to deliver the State of the Nation Address on Thursday night, an alarming fire began spreading on the upper slopes of Bo-Kaap.

Reports started flooding in across community groups in Cape Town from about 11.30am on Wednesday, 6 February 2025, of a fire burning down the slopes of the mountain in Bo-Kaap.

With harsh winds fuelling the fire, smoke could be seen from the Green Point Athletic Stadium and across Bo Kaap, with the fire seeming to blaze closer and closer to business and residential buildings in the Cape Town CBD near Strand Street.

City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said they received a call at 11.30am alerting them that the mountain slopes were alight above High Level Road in Bo-Kaap.

Approximately 30 workers were on the scene from various fire stations in the City of Cape Town, with five fire engines, a water tanker and a skid unit on site.

Carelse said that two divisions were established to make optimal use of the resources, but the initial request for aerial support was recalled because the firefighters managed to contain the spread of the fire.

‘Under control’

By early afternoon, Carelse said: “At this stage, the fire is under control. Crews have relocated to Hudson Street as it is moving in that direction.”

When Daily Maverick visited the site, firefighters had the blaze under control with just a few smoke flare-ups on the slopes of the mountain, and the main fire bordering the houses on High Level Road in Bo-Kaap.

A worker from a restaurant opposite the fire said: “It was very dangerous.”

In an article published by The Conversation, researchers warn that climate change is making dangerous wildfires more likely, as climate change causes increased frequency and severity of hot, dry weather, also known as “fire weather”. This makes vegetation dry up and landscapes become more flammable, increasing the probability of dangerous wildfires.

Firefighters attend to the fire that broke out on the slopes of Bo-Kaap. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

The fire pictured here from the Green Point Athletic Stadium. (Photo: Mujaheed Daniels)

When the wildfire season began in the Western Cape, Local Government Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said a busy fire season was expected.

This was because the long and wet winter season caused “vigorous vegetation growth” over large parts of the province.

“Dense vegetation, together with hot, dry, and windy summer weather creates favourable conditions for wildfires,” Bredell said.

Aerial support

During the previous fire season, a total of 7,215 wildfires were experienced in the province, and the Western Cape Government authorised aerial support to 38 of them.

“In total, 85% of all fires in identified high-risk areas were contained during the initial attack phase, the majority within the first hour,” Bredell said.

The South African Weather Service alerted that the UVB sunburn index was very high with wind along the coast on Thursday, 6 February 2025, which would be fresh to strong southerly in the west, but moderate to fresh south-easterly along the south coast, where it would become strong easterly from the afternoon.

The weather service also indicated partly cloudy to cloudy conditions over the eastern and southern parts with isolated showers and rain along the south coast; otherwise, weather conditions would be fine and cool to warm.

The weather service also warned there would be extremely high fire danger conditions over the extreme western parts of the Western and Northern Cape, the extreme north-eastern parts of the Northern Cape, and the western parts of North West on Friday, 7 February-2025. DM

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‘Under control’

Aerial support