Firefighters were to remain on "the highest alert" overnight, after about 400 fires in less than 72 hours left hundreds of informal settlement residents homeless, and more fires were expected.
Blistering heat and gusting winds fanned the blazes in the Peninsula, Atlantis, Rooi Els, the Cape Winelands and West Coast District Municipality.
Worst hit was Khayelitsha with two major fires. Despite a temperature of 31°C and strong winds, residents of R Section in Khayelitsha spent Sunday rebuilding their shelters.
Mothers with children strapped to their backs were helping carry singed sheets of corrugated iron to the blackened ground where their homes had stood.
Other residents nailed planks together.
Zolile Stali, who had been living there for 18 years, said his shack, which had doubled as a shop, had been destroyed with all his stock and a number of Christmas presents he was storing.
"I can't believe it. I've lost more than R4 000 from the shop alone," he said.
Stali, who has six children from four to 17 years, said he had struggled for some time to save money for Christmas presents for his children. He could not believe it had all been destroyed.
"Everything I do, I do for my children. I bought them presents to make this Christmas special but then this happens. We already live a tough life here and this fire has made it even more difficult."
"Maybe one day we'll find out why our things burnt and we'll know it was for the best," he said.
Phatheka Mfama said her home had also burnt down and she had been working for more than seven hours trying to rebuild a shelter.
"I have an eight-month-old baby and he needs a home. Everything is gone, our clothes, food, my ID. I'll just have to stay with relatives and start all over again," she said.
On Sunday, Pieter Smit, a senior operator at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said in 63 hours the 29 fire stations in the unicity had responded to 381 fires.
"As I speak we're busy with 13 emergency calls and more calls are still coming in. There have been mostly grass fires because of the very hot conditions paired with the wind.
"There've been a few bigger fires as well. We're always on alert but now we're on the highest alert.
"People should be careful in this very warm weather and look out for fires," he said.
Temperatures were expected to cool slightly and reach 22°C on Monday, but Smit said the fire services would remain on the highest alert.
At the weekend the Cape Winelands also battled 31 blazes while late on Sunday firefighters in the West Coast District Municipality were too busy responding to veld fires to speak to the press.
Informal settlements around the city were the hardest hit, with nearly 100 shacks being razed and 437 residents left homeless.
Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesperson for the city's Disaster Risk Management, said the largest fire, in T R Section, Khayelitsha, on Friday, had destroyed 60 shacks, leaving at least 300 people homeless.
He said nine fire engines, a spotter and two fixed-wing planes had extinguished the blaze.
No injuries had been reported.
On Saturday, at least 100 people in R Section in Khayelitsha were left homeless by a fire that razed 25 shacks.
Solomons-Johannes said four fire engines had fought this fire.
As those left homeless rebuilt their shelters on Sunday, 25 more people lost their homes in a fire in Gugulethu. Six shacks burned down.
Solomons-Johannes said two shacks that were home to five people had burned down in Milnerton.
In Manenberg, a flat and two shacks housing seven people were gutted. - Cape Times
Blistering heat and gusting winds fanned the blazes in the Peninsula, Atlantis, Rooi Els, the Cape Winelands and West Coast District Municipality.
Worst hit was Khayelitsha with two major fires. Despite a temperature of 31°C and strong winds, residents of R Section in Khayelitsha spent Sunday rebuilding their shelters.
| 'Everything I do, I do for my children' |
Other residents nailed planks together.
Zolile Stali, who had been living there for 18 years, said his shack, which had doubled as a shop, had been destroyed with all his stock and a number of Christmas presents he was storing.
"I can't believe it. I've lost more than R4 000 from the shop alone," he said.
Stali, who has six children from four to 17 years, said he had struggled for some time to save money for Christmas presents for his children. He could not believe it had all been destroyed.
"Everything I do, I do for my children. I bought them presents to make this Christmas special but then this happens. We already live a tough life here and this fire has made it even more difficult."
"Maybe one day we'll find out why our things burnt and we'll know it was for the best," he said.
Phatheka Mfama said her home had also burnt down and she had been working for more than seven hours trying to rebuild a shelter.
"I have an eight-month-old baby and he needs a home. Everything is gone, our clothes, food, my ID. I'll just have to stay with relatives and start all over again," she said.
On Sunday, Pieter Smit, a senior operator at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said in 63 hours the 29 fire stations in the unicity had responded to 381 fires.
"As I speak we're busy with 13 emergency calls and more calls are still coming in. There have been mostly grass fires because of the very hot conditions paired with the wind.
"There've been a few bigger fires as well. We're always on alert but now we're on the highest alert.
"People should be careful in this very warm weather and look out for fires," he said.
Temperatures were expected to cool slightly and reach 22°C on Monday, but Smit said the fire services would remain on the highest alert.
At the weekend the Cape Winelands also battled 31 blazes while late on Sunday firefighters in the West Coast District Municipality were too busy responding to veld fires to speak to the press.
Informal settlements around the city were the hardest hit, with nearly 100 shacks being razed and 437 residents left homeless.
Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesperson for the city's Disaster Risk Management, said the largest fire, in T R Section, Khayelitsha, on Friday, had destroyed 60 shacks, leaving at least 300 people homeless.
He said nine fire engines, a spotter and two fixed-wing planes had extinguished the blaze.
No injuries had been reported.
On Saturday, at least 100 people in R Section in Khayelitsha were left homeless by a fire that razed 25 shacks.
Solomons-Johannes said four fire engines had fought this fire.
As those left homeless rebuilt their shelters on Sunday, 25 more people lost their homes in a fire in Gugulethu. Six shacks burned down.
Solomons-Johannes said two shacks that were home to five people had burned down in Milnerton.
In Manenberg, a flat and two shacks housing seven people were gutted. - Cape Times
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