page_title: 2015 Western Cape fire season
section_title: Cape Point
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Western Cape fire season / Major fires / Cape Peninsula / Cape Point
caption_attribution_description: Working On Fire Bell UH-1H Iroquois ZS-HLA
context_page_description: The 2015 Cape wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned across the Western Cape from February to April 2015. Major fires burned across the Cape Peninsula starting on 1 March in Muizenberg and burning until 9 March, when firefighters extinguished it. The fire resulted in 1 death, 56 injuries, over 6,900 hectares of burnt land, and 13 damaged properties, of which 3 were destroyed. The cause of the fire was later determined to be arson. There were also major fires near Wellington and Porteville starting in February, which claimed the lives of 3 firefighters and a fire in Stellenbosch that caused the evacuation of the University of Stellenbosch and burned over 2,900 hectares of land.
context_section_description: The Cape Point fire started on Wednesday, 4 March in Cape Point Nature Reserve after a lightning strike in the area. Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control, but strong winds fueled the fire and made it difficult for aerial firefighting resources to be used and the fire flared up again on Thursday. On Saturday, 71 year-old firefighting helicopter pilot, Hendrik Willem Marais, was killed when his Bell Huey helicopter crashed while fighting the fire. Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille and Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Edna Molewa sent their condolences. The fire in Cape Point flared up again on Sunday and 70-80 firefighters with water tanks were sent to control the fire.
caption: A Working on Fire Huey
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 1000D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ArcSoft PhotoStudio 6.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:02:14 17:26:41", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Tag 0x1001": "3027", "Image Tag 0x1002": "1936", "Image ExifOffset": "240", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9194", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3625", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:01:21 18:39:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:01:21 18:39:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "270", "EXIF SubSecTime": "94", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "94", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "94", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2355", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1395", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9028", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "324000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2592000/583", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "f4fe3562fbb1cf3c4f9447a6fae1ceab", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "0"}