Fires on Ou Kaapseweg contained, visitors to Silvermine evacuated

A busy mountain road connecting the southern peninsula to the rest of Cape Town was closed by seven fires on Saturday, and visitors to the Silvermine area were evacuated.

Maxine Bezuidenhout, a spokesperson for the Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service, said Ou Kaapseweg was closed in both directions between Steenberg and Silvermine Road in Noordhoek. 

At 1.40pm, a tweet from Table Mountain National Park said all seven "ignition areas" had been contained but the situation remained "very volatile".

"Crews remain on scene conducting mop-up operations, as well as four helicopters which will continue waterbombing the area," it said.

NCC Wildfires tweeted that the area was "still very hot and dangerous".

Visitors to the Silvermine area - which had reached full capacity on the hottest day of summer so far, according to Table Mountain National Park - were evacuated as a safety precaution and ground crews from VWS Wildfire Services and Working on Fire were called in.

Fire service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said the fire had been "extremely fluid" and about 80 firefighters were involved in fighting it.

The City of Cape Town had dispatched about 10 vehicles - six fire engines and four water tankers. 

A temperature of 37ºC was forecast for midafternoon. Cape Town's “Cape Doctor” — the south-easterly summer wind that often fans wildfires — was blowing only gently, however.

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