FLAMES OF FURY

Hundreds of firefighters battled a raging wildfire in Cape Town that destroyed everything in its path

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

IT HAD been an unusually quiet fire season and as autumn arrived authorities even dared to hope the Mother City would escape unscathed this year.

But any illusion of escape was banished on the morning of Sunday 18 April when all hell was unleashed on the city.

At first it seemed like a regular Sunday morning, the slopes of the mountain dotted with hikers, cyclists and joggers enjoying the bright sunlight.

But the temperature was murderously high and the wind like a blast from a hot oven.

It wasn’t long before intense orange licks of flame became a terrible story.

By the end of the day, Cape Town was making global headlines as Armageddon-like scenes beamed around the world.

THE fire began on the lower slopes of Devil’s Peak, just above the highway snaking around the mountain into the city centre.

Strong winds sent it racing towards Rhodes Memorial, where the famous tea garden with sweeping views of the city was destroyed.

Dramatic cellphone footage showed an explosion as the restaurant’s gas bottles were detonated by the flames.

Next in the line of fire was the University of Cape Town (UCT), Africa’s top university. Several buildings were damaged, including the iconic Jagger Library which was all but gutted.

The building’s fire detection system triggered the fire shutters and prevented the spread of the blaze through the entire library, says Ujala Satgoor, executive director of UCT Libraries.