Flammable trees of the species that stoked the Table Mountain fire last month could be turned from a fire hazard into a fireproof material and revolutionise building in informal settlements, curbing the runaway fires that kill dozens of people every year.

Nomasamson Dlamini was the latest victim. She died in an inferno in Cato Crest, Durban, which burnt down 50 shacks in the same week that the wildfire torched heritage buildings at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and forced widespread evacuations...