- 250 firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed to the university campus and to Table Mountain National Park
- Four helicopters were being used to drop water on threatened areas
- Out-of-control blaze created its own wind further increasing the rate of spread
University of Cape Town historic library was burned and about 4,000 students were evacuated when a wildfire raging on the slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain spread to campus.
While firefighters sprayed jets of water to douse the blaze, at least two floors of Jagger Library that houses considerable archives and book collections burned.
Other campus buildings also caught fire, and a historic windmill nearby burned.
Over 250 firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed to the university campus and to Table Mountain National Park. Four helicopters were being used to drop water on threatened areas, Cape Town officials said.
Cape Town disaster risk management center issued a statement, telling the city residents to be on alert.
The emergency services have evacuated some residents from the upmarket suburb of Vredehoek, along the slopes of Table Mountain.
17-storey residential buildings overlooking Cape Town were evacuated as a huge fire, which has been fanned by strong winds, approached.
The out-of-control blaze created its own wind further increasing the rate of spread, it added, estimating that firefighters would need at least three days to control the fire.
