Five cars and a motorbike were burnt out at Silvermine Dam parking area during a raging fire at Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town on 27 April 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)
By Kristin Engel | 12 May 2025
The Cape Peninsula, home to the world-renowned Table Mountain National Park and the unique fynbos biome, has long been shaped by fire. The April 2025 wildfires have reignited debate about fire management and the growing risks at the wildland-urban interface of the Cape.
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As fires erupted across Cape Town at the end of April and into early May, residents living along the edge of Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) found themselves under evacuation orders, watching as orange and red skies loomed overhead and flames crept dangerously close to their homes. Nearly 3,000 hectares of land were scorched in the blaze, leaving a trail of ecological damage and affecting countless wildlife in the process.
As night falls, water-bombing helicopters are grounded as the fire continues to blaze on both sides of Cape Town’s Silvermine Nature Reserve that borders Tokai on one side and Noordhoek on the other. (Photo: Cape Talk / Facebook)
The Cape Peninsula, home to the world-renowned TMNP and the unique fynbos biome, has long been shaped by fire. Yet the April 2025 wildfires, which swept through Tokai and surrounding areas, have reignited debate about fire management, ecological resilience and the growing fire risks at the wildland-urban interface.
This fire burnt under very similar conditions to the 2021 Devil’s Peak/UCT fire, both occurring in late April and towards the end of the fire season, the key difference being the wind speed.
Northwesterly winds fuelled both the 2021 and 2025 fires, but these were stronger and gustier than in 2021. The wind direction did shift during the fire in 2021 to southeast from the second day, but almost all the major damage was done while northwesterly winds were blowing.
The 2021 fire has also been linked to the effects of climate change, including increased wildfire risk and extreme weather events.
Silvermine Fynbos, False Bay. (Photo: Michael Cameron)
While SANParks, the authority managing the park, emphasised that fynbos was a fire-adapted ecosystem and that regular burns were essential for its regeneration, the 2025 fires have reignited debate over how the park is managed – especially at the wildland-urban interface.
According to SANParks spokesperson Charles Phahlane, “fynbos is a fire-adapted and fire-driven vegetation. It needs fire at regular intervals to ensure the biodiversity and vegetation composition are kept intact.”
He noted that seemingly paradoxically, fires like this one could benefit many local and endangered plant species, provided they occurred at the right intervals.
Yet, not all stakeholders are convinced that current management practices strike the right balance. Some stakeholders have criticised TMNP’s approach, arguing there is a “lack of understanding of fynbos ecology”.
They contend that not all fires should be extinguished and that more regular, controlled burning is needed to maintain biodiversity, reduce dangerous fuel loads and prevent catastrophic fires from spreading into residential areas.
These stakeholders also point out the failure to implement effective buffer zones between the park and neighbourhoods, warning that allowing old unmanaged fynbos to persist right up to the urban edge increases the risk to both people and property.
What fuelled the fire?
The 2025 Tokai fire surprised many observers by spreading rapidly despite relatively calm wind conditions. As Dr Stefaan Conradie, a climate science lecturer at the University of Cape Town (UCT), explained, “at the weather stations from where there is data available for Cape Town during the period of this most recent fire, the wind speeds were not high at all… It was the fastest that they’ve seen a wildfire spread without significant wind.” Conradie said he heard this anecdotally from a contact in the Volunteer Wildfire Services.
This specific case defied the common expectation that strong winds were the primary driver of rapid fire spread on the Peninsula.
Instead, Conradie indicated a combination of high temperatures, unusually low relative humidity, and dry vegetation.
“The vegetation was very dry and the air was also very dry. And that’s a distinct similarity with April 2021 – also end of the season, also very dry April, and very low humidity.”
These conditions, exacerbated by a long, dry summer, created an environment where fire could move quickly and burn intensely, even in the absence of wind.
Phahlane said that both standing invasive plants as well as previously stacked invasive vegetation played a role in the spread of the fire, but cautioned that this should be seen in context with the major role played by weather conditions (especially wind speed and direction) and the steep slopes/topography of the area.
“The fire behaviour would have been very different in a flat area without being driven by Berg winds,” he said.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA’s Wildlife Unit continues to find slower-moving species such as dead tortoises, snakes and a lot of other ground species like nesting birds burnt in the wake of the blaze. (Photo: Cape of Good Hope SPCA)
An article in The Conversation by Stellenbosch University’s Alanna Rebelo and Karen Joan Esler on the 2021 fire said that out-of-control wildfire on Table Mountain may be linked to fire suppression, alien trees, constrained budgets and unsupportive policies, together creating “a wicked problem”.
They wrote that fire hazard was influenced by three factors: fuel loads, the weather and an ignition source.
“The danger of fires in the Cape region this season is therefore partly dependent on how the fynbos has been managed over the past few decades. Good management includes promoting natural fire regimes and maintenance of fire belts,” said the authors.
The role of accumulated biomass
A factor that contributed to the fire’s severity was the accumulation of fuel, both from ageing fynbos and from alien vegetation, according to Nicky Schmidt, chairperson of NGO Parkscape and Eugene Moll, a professor in the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
Moll said a lot of alien vegetation had been removed and stacked, and that this was a bad thing to do.
“We shouldn’t have old fynbos next to human habitation… The real problem, to me, is that there was too much dead biomass or fuel close to human habitation. And we were lucky, only a few cars were burnt and one firefighter was injured, but there was no damage to housing, to fixed property, only to motorised property.
“If the wind had been blowing, [a] hectic gale, we would have lost houses for sure,” said Moll. He said that the reason this hadn’t been the case was that first, the weather was on our side, and that second, millions and millions of rands were spent on fighting fires.
The fire, observed from Fish Hoek, spreads towards Kalk Bay. (Photo: Maryke Viljoen)
According to Moll, a lot of the vegetation was 10 to 40 years old, with some even older.
“[We] should never have such old vegetation close to human habitation. The whole point of management [ecological] burns is to maintain fynbos of between 10 to 15 years old around the city, and that doesn’t happen,” said Moll.
Freelance forest ecologist Coert Geldenhuys said that “in my view, piles of slash [a form of accumulated biomass] should be burnt as soon as they are dry enough to turn the biomass into ash. I had been in that area before and commented on the slash piles that had become overgrown by regrowth grassy material, increasing the fire risk of such piles.
“The persisting piles are not conducive to the fynbos development, and my thinking was that the planted tree stands were cleared to turn the area into the former fynbos of that area. However, unmanaged slash piles create a fire risk, can cause more severe fire risk and would not be conducive to effective recovery of the fynbos plants that may still be on site.”
As Philip Prins, executive chairperson of the Cape Peninsula Fire Protection Association, noted – though not criticising SANParks management – there were complex trade-offs in managing fuel loads. While clearing alien vegetation was essential for ecological restoration, the process could temporarily increase fire risk if the cleared material was not properly removed or managed.
At the same time, ageing fynbos that has not burnt for more than 15 years also becomes highly flammable, underscoring the need for regular, ecologically appropriate fire cycles.
Fynbos needs fire – but not too much, nor too little
Fynbos, the iconic shrubland of the Cape, is adapted to periodic burning. As Prins explained, “we say [fynbos should burn] every 12 to 15 years”. Fires that are too frequent or too infrequent can disrupt the reproductive cycles of fynbos species, leading to loss of biodiversity.
The 2025 fire, which burnt much of the same area as the 2015 Tokai fire, was seen by some ecologists as overdue and ultimately beneficial for fynbos regeneration. However, the presence of alien vegetation and the proximity to urban infrastructure complicate the picture, increasing the risk of high-intensity fires that can damage both natural and human systems.
Long-term residents and ecologists have raised concerns about ongoing ecological degradation in areas like Tokai, where invasive species regrow rapidly and clearing efforts struggle to keep up.
One of the most significant strategic challenges is what Conradie called “the firefighting trap”. The current approach in Cape Town and across the Western Cape is to contain every fire as quickly as possible, often within the first hour. While this strategy protects lives and property, it can lead to the buildup of dangerous fuel loads and delay the beneficial effects of ecological fire.
Globally, there is a shift toward managing fire for ecological resilience rather than simply suppressing it. “There’s been a shift globally in thinking about our wildfire response from just trying to stop fires happening at all to managing their consequences,” Conradie observed.
A helicopter carries water above Noordhoek during the fire in Table Mountain National Park on 27 April 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)
“Most deaths, injuries and severe damage and destruction from wildfires are attributable to a small number of very extreme fires burning under extreme weather conditions. This is widely regarded as the most important risk to manage.”
However, this approach requires public buy-in, robust science and the political will to allow controlled burns in appropriate settings.
Read more: The conundrum of a growing city in a poorly managed fire-dependent Cape biome
As Schmidt pointed out, there had been a problem with authorities not issuing burn permits.
Phahlane said the largest challenge to proactive fire management within the urban environment was legislative in nature.
“Bylaws require SANParks to meet very stringent conditions to enable prescribed burning. SANParks is investigating which key leverage points will require changes to enable broader societal and legislative support for safe and proactive use of fire to reduce fire risk,” he said.
While fynbos needs fire to maintain its vegetation composition and ecological health, Phahlane said that people’s lives and homes might be threatened by fire. These risks would always take priority over ecological considerations.
Human causes and management gaps
While climate and fuel loads set the stage for severe fires, human activity remains the primary cause of ignitions for most fires.
As Conradie put it, “I don’t think that there’s a clear link between climate change and the frequency of fires, specifically, because most ignitions are caused by human activity, deliberate or otherwise. … The real impact [of climate change] is on the risk of really severe fires.”
The expansion of urban areas into the natural fire-prone landscapes of the Cape Peninsula has created a volatile wildland-urban interface. As Prins noted, “the wildlife-urban interface … makes it worse”.
Densely populated neighbourhoods now border conservation areas, increasing the stakes of every wildfire event and complicating both prevention and response.
Phahlane said that wildlife was largely unaffected by this fire, being mobile and able to move away from the flames, as well as being adapted to living in a fire-driven system. However, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA told Daily Maverick that the scale of loss they saw while responding to the wildlife affected by the fire was “heartbreaking”.
Read more: Cape Town’s Tokai fire: SPCA races to rescue wildlife amid heartbreaking silence of devastation
Phahlane did say that slower-moving animals such as tortoises, snakes and chameleons succumbed to the fire in some areas, but that many animal species were adapted to fire.
High levels of invasive plant species
SANParks admitted that areas where there were historically high levels of invasive plant species would require careful management, as fast regrowth of alien species was expected from the seedbank.
“Previous fires and clearing have assisted in reducing the seedbank in some areas, particularly Silvermine, while more intensive management is expected in areas of Tokai,” said Phahlane.
Fynbos must burn at between 10 and 40 years of age to sustain its plant species. If fires are suppressed, fynbos begins to age and thicket elements start invading.
However, Phahlane said that too-frequent fires would prevent fynbos species from reaching an age of releasing fruit and seed, and this would cause a decline of fynbos elements in the landscape. Therefore, it was important to record and monitor long-term fire events and fynbos recovery.
Some of these fynbos species are only seen after a fire and not again until the next fire. Other species are slower-growing and will reach maturity only in the next five to 10 years.
Phahlane said there was a “well-planned and resourced” alien invasive plant clearing plan implemented in TMNP, as well as methods to deal with the resulting slash and felled vegetation.
“The challenge in the Tokai upper levels is that stack burning for fuel reduction gets more challenging the higher you go, as road access and condition, turnaround time for water availability, types of fuel, etc become a factor when considering fuel reduction priorities, compared to an area adjacent to the urban wildland interface,” said Phahlane.
SANParks’ fire management protocol
TMNP has an Integrated Fire Management Plan that includes reducing the risks to the adjacent urban areas, cooperation and joint fire management activities with other fire management partners, fire suppression and planned ecological and fuel reduction burns.
Phahlane said that fire standby teams were available 24/7 to respond to all wildfires in the park, irrespective of the area, and that they currently still maintained their summer-strength crews as they have not had sufficient seasonal rain to begin considering standing teams down.
When questioned why there was such a significant presence of cut, but unremoved alien vegetation in Tokai, which reportedly acted as fuel for the fire, Phalane said that alien invasive plant clearing took place throughout the year.
“In some areas, particularly steep slopes, felled vegetation is stacked to prevent soil erosion. It is also, in some cases, impossible to remove large felled trees due to limited access on these slopes. Stacks of cleared material are burnt in the winter when this burning poses limited risk of spread to surrounding areas.
“By clearing and stacking the vegetation, the risk of fire is actually reduced compared to leaving the vegetation standing. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the volatile organic compounds present in the leaves when the plant is alive are not there when the plant is dead, reducing flammability and fire intensity, and second, oxygen for the fire to burn is limited in a stack compared to standing plants,” said Phahlane.
SANParks has a budget allocated to both integrated fire management and invasive plant clearing to reduce fire risk in the TMNP. Both fuel reduction burning and prescribed burns are subject to permit application and public input.
But as with all issues, Phahlane noted, there were divergent views that often affected where and how frequently prescribed burning took place.
Civil society, such as Parkscape, has continuously raised long-standing concerns about fuel loads and invasive species in areas such as Newlands Forest, Tokai and Devil’s Peak. These contribute to the spread and scope of wildfires.
In response, Phahlane said that the clearing of these areas was under way and had been carefully planned and implemented for many years.
“Careful management of the area is needed to ensure appropriate rehabilitation to prevent erosion and promote the growth of natural vegetation in areas that are cleared. TMNP also has a programme to grow indigenous tree seedlings to assist with these rehabilitation efforts,” he said.
In response to the stakeholder criticism, Phahlane said that what was on official record is that SANParks (and by extension its national parks like TMNP) was internationally recognised as one of the prime global conservation leaders whose numerous successful efforts were based on tested and publicly verifiable scientific and evidence-based solutions.
“The latest fire was extremely well managed in terms of integrated response by SANParks and its partners in fire management. No structures were lost during this fire and no lives were lost. The same cannot be said the world over in other fire-prone regions, meaning that our solutions are also world-class in character,” said Phahlane.
Conradie concurred with Phahlane that SANParks had made huge progress since the largest and most destructive wildfire in the Cape Peninsula occurred in January 2000.
This, Conradie said, was despite considerable resistance from sections of the public and civil society groups.
“The coordinated response to fires is generally also very impressive. Comparing Cape Town to LA wildfires, for example, illustrates many relevant factors that are better managed here, especially the wildland urban interface (WUI) growth,” he said.
However, this also emphasised how important it was that the WUI and alien fuel loads were carefully managed, with WUI landowners like UCT needing to take responsibility for keeping their defensible space clear of fuel. DM