Table Mountain fire 'flares up' overnight

Firefighters were hard at work on Tuesday to contain a fire that flared up overnight on Table Mountain in Cape Town.

Fire Manager for Table Mountain National Park‚ Phillip Prins‚ said more than 90 firefighters were attempting to douse the blaze.

“We are still busy with a fire that started yesterday in Skeleton Gorge. It spread from Skeleton Gorge over into Nursery Rivane. We had it well under control last night‚ the fire was well contained. The aerial resources stood down. Unfortunately due to the inaccessibility of the terrain‚ there was quite a big flare-up this morning between 1am and 2am. At this stage the fire is spreading again‚ it actually burned through Nursery Rivane‚” said Prins.

“We’ve got fresh crews in this morning between Table Mountain National Park and Working on Fire. We’ve got about 96 firefighters on the scene already. We’ve got three helicopters and a spotter plane that has been in the air since 8am. At this stage we are concentrating on the left flank and the right flank trying to contain the fire and trying to contain the spread of the fire.”

He said the fire did not appear to have been man-made.

Gigi Laider tweeted: “#SkeletonGorgeFire #wildfire still in progress. Mature Fynbos does need to burn‚ but life and property require protection.”

Colleen Murray tweeted: “The helicopters managed to put the fire out yesterday evening. They sent people up into the night to put out any fires that arose again (very scary). Unfortunately a significant fire started in the night and the helicopters are back up the mountain today. #SkeletonGorgeFire.”

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