Table Mountain fires spark arson concerns

Three additional fires were reported along the same stretch of Phillip Kgosana Drive on Monday while firefighters were already battling a blaze near Devil’s Peak — a pattern City officials say raises concern about possible arson.

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security JP Smith said crews responded shortly after 1pm to a vegetation fire in Table Mountain National Park (TMNP). While teams were working to contain the flames, three further fires broke out along the same route.

“Such a situation could quickly result in widespread disaster, following a period of high temperatures in our City over recent days which has left vegetation dry and flammable,” Smith said.

SANParks activated aerial firefighting support, and three City of Cape Town helicopters waterbombed the fires under the direction of a spotter aircraft. Ground crews from Roeland Street, Salt River, Constantia and Brooklyn fire stations assisted TMNP teams.

All fires were contained and the roadway was reopened by 5pm.

The incident comes amid a surge in vegetation fires across the metro. Between December 2025 and January 2026, the City’s Fire & Rescue Service responded to 3,492 vegetation fires — 279 more than during the same period the previous year.

Smith confirmed that forensic fire investigators contracted to TMNP were on scene on Tuesday. “Arson is a criminal offence,” he said, adding that should evidence confirm deliberate ignition, the responsibility to open a criminal case with the South African Police Service rests with the park authority as land custodian.

Referring to the latest quarterly crime statistics, Smith said the Western Cape recorded 194 arson dockets between October and December 2025. The figure was cited by the City in its statement and could not be independently verified against a publicly available SAPS provincial breakdown at the time of publication. Each docket requires investigation to determine cause, intent and possible suspects.

The Devil’s Peak area has previously been the site of one of Cape Town’s most devastating wildfires. In April 2021, a blaze that began on the slopes above the city spread toward the University of Cape Town, destroying the historic Jagger Library and irreplaceable African Studies archives. The fire also gutted Mostert’s Mill, later rebuilt, with damages estimated at more than R1 billion.

Authorities at the time conducted forensic investigations into the cause of the fire. More recently, in January 2025, SANParks confirmed it had opened a probe after aerial monitoring detected a vehicle leaving the vicinity of a newly ignited fire near Red Hill during active firefighting operations.

Municipal officials stressed that whether Monday’s fires were the result of criminal conduct will ultimately depend on forensic findings and any subsequent police investigation.

Get your news on the go, click here to join the Cape Argus News WhatsApp channel.

Cape Argus