Saturday Spot: The Summer of Fires, Muizenberg Fire So Far…

It has been the summer of fires and we have had two large fires above our house already… The fire from this past weekend has been unprecedented and engulfed a large part of the Silvermine Mountain Range.

The Muizenburg Fire Day by Day

se7en - 010315 - 0334.jpg

Saturday Evening

The kids heard the helicopter fly by and dashed out to see if they could see a fire… they couldn’t but they soon saw the spotter plane and knew that there would be one. The conditions were extremely windy and cloudy and really not good for fire control on a dry dusty mountain and the end of a long hot summer.

se7en - 280215 - 0235.jpg

se7en - 280215 - 0253.jpg

se7en - 280215 - 0264.jpg

Sunday Morning Above Westlake

As we traveled towards Lakeside on Sunday morning we sae the fire had expanded over the Muizenberg side of the mountain and was creeping along above Lakeside and Westlake…

se7en - 010315 - 0321.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0267.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0322.jpg

Sunday Afternoon – Westlake

When we returned to the South Peninsula in the afternoon the fire was in full force above Lakeside and the helicopters were hard at work.

se7en - 010315 - 0310.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0313.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0315.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0306.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0302.jpg

Sunday Evening – Ou Kaapse Weg

Looking from Lakeside into the sunset on Sunday evening was alarming, but we were able to drive over Ou Kaapse Weg and where the Fire Services were watching the fire.

se7en - 010315 - 0340.jpg

se7en - 010315 - 0345.jpg

Sunday Night…

The wind came up and the fire literally engulfed the top of the mountain… the whole of Silvermine, over the top into Hout Bay and down through Noordhoek. We were able to watch the fire lurk along the top of the mountain line above Clovelly, just before dawn.

se7en - 020315 - 1668.jpg

se7en - 020315 - 1675.jpg

se7en - 020315 - 1677.jpg

Monday Morning

As the dawn broke we could see that the damage was extensive and that Silvermine had literally been burnt out. All roads to the South Peninsula except the one, the main road – which is again dug up for road works and so only one way traffic… a logistical nightmare for the city.

se7en - 020315 - 0354.jpg

se7en - 020315 - 0377.jpg

se7en - 020315 - 0855.jpg

Monday Afternoon

By Monday afternoon the fire-fighters had been working in really difficult conditions, the entire weekend. They were still bombing along the mountain ridge at the end of the day. We spent most of the day watching the fire progress and taking photographs.

se7en - 020315 - 0492.jpg

se7en - 020315 - 0469.jpg

se7en - 020315 - 1685.jpg

Monday Night

The fire was still raging before dawn and is now steadily marching down the valley.

se7en - 030315 - 1694.jpg

se7en - 030315 - 0540.jpg

SilverMine This Morning

This is the same area that we drove through on Sunday evening, and it has been devastated by fire. One of our favourite hiking spots is a dessert.

se7en - 030315 - 7833.jpg

se7en - 030315 - 7831.jpg

se7en - 030315 - 3482.jpg

se7en - 030315 - 7835.jpg

I am sure there will be more photographs taken today and we will add them to this post later on…

21 Replies to “Saturday Spot: The Summer of Fires, Muizenberg Fire So Far…”

  1. Gosh this fire is very very scary! We have family living in Houtbay (Luckily in town close to the beach and not towards the mountain) but its scary.

  2. Hay Cat, The fire just goes on and on… it is overwhelming with choppers constantly overhead and flames all the time. Luckily we are quite safe where we are, but I really feel for those that have had to evacuate. I think we are ready for a great distraction, and I will only say this once… but a rainy day would be good.

  3. Ruby, what a lovely surprise and thank you for stopping by. The fire is devastating, I cannot believe that the places that we have hiked have become vast tracts of lunar landscape overnight. Not to mention the fire goes on and on… hoping that they get it under control really soon. Hope you have had a good year!!!

  4. Marcia, it is huge – you have no idea… right across the peninsula, from False Bay to Hout Bay… North to South. Unprecedented and just doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. Take a peak at that pic again… their are five pairs of legs on that rock. I love that pic too. Have a great day!!!

  5. Thinking of you guys in the smoke and the ash and the traffic! Reminds me of the fires of 2000 when we watched the whole of Chapman’s Peak burn down across the bay.
    Lots of love.
    (Just went back up and saw the 5th pair of legs!)

  6. Oh Corli, it has been quite overwhelming. The sirens, the helicopters pounding and just the noise… not to mention the fire engulfing mountain after mountain right before our eyes. It is very distressing, all those hikes we have done… woosh. Now we are under a cloud of ash and smoke… and cant really see what’s going on at all… somewhat surreal.

  7. I haven’t commented on your blog in very long time, but you and your family were very much on my heart today. Praying that you are safe. If you guys need to escape the smoke and come for a visit in the Northern Suburbs, you are so very welcome at our home.

  8. It’s so surreal when it is a so close to home. How many times I’ve tuned in to news to watch the California wild fires and though “shame” but when it is so close too home scary!

    Praying it gets under control and that the heaven opens up with a good dose of rain showers

  9. I look at your pics on instagram but forget you have a blog =) Thank you for sharing as after I saw the pics on instagram I was trying to get news on it way over yonder in Michigan!!! Very interest and I agree very scary. I work 911 Dispatch in the city and though we fight some serious fires….I’ve not had to experience the wild fire type. Hard and dangerous work.

  10. Mia, Wow, how wonderful to hear from you…. we are all safe and the fires are going down and so are our stress levels… I will blog a little more about the fire later this week and you can see some more photographs… sending love to you and your little family!!!

  11. Hi Susan, thank you so much for stopping by, you sure must have some interesting times on the far side of the world… lovely to meet you and connect. I will be blogging a bit more about the fire in a couple of days… it has eased and hopefully our city can recover itself. Hope you have a great weekend!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *