The wildfire that was sparked on the mountain slopes of Castle Rock, south of Simon’s Town hurtled towards Scarborough via Plateau Road on Thursday evening, fuelled by a raging southeaster. Just before 8pm, another inferno erupted along the Glencairn Expressway.
As the Simon’s Town wildfire continued to rage towards Scarborough, the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service dealt with a second inferno along the Glencairn Expressway on Thursday night. On Friday morning shortly after midnight residents on the south side of Scarborough were starting to evacuate and not long after the communication came for residents in Hilltop Road, Scarborough to leave. The fire was also spreading into Cape Point on the south side of Scarborough.
“The emergency call was received just before 8pm, of vegetation alight,” the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said in a statement released shortly after 10pm.
“The area was inaccessible to ground crews who responded, as the fire was moving towards Stonehaven Estate, fanned by strong winds.
“A call was made at 8.50pm that residents of Stonehaven Estate should be relocated,” he continued.
Carelse said the Glencairn Expressway was closed to traffic between Kommetjie Road and Simon’s Town Main Road.
In a Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) update at 10.50pm, the DRMC said that officials on site at the fire along the Glencairn Expressway advised that the area was inundated with smoke and asked residents close to the…