Page 86 - KBHA BULLETIN 5

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with four natives went to her assistance, some beating out the approaching flames and others
removing the furniture. One of the porters who responded to the call told the “Cape Times”
representative that while he had seen many bush fires up-country he had never witnessed one so
fierce or that had spread so quickly. The fire reached down to the Star of the Sea convent which,
but for the strenuous efforts of the staff and the school girls, would have become an inferno.
Most of the houses which have recently been erected on the high levels have had their immediate
surroundings denuded of bush, and though this reduced the risk of their taking fire, there was
danger from the intense heat and the shower of sparks to say nothing of the personal
inconvenience caused by the thick smoke.

Outhouses destroyed
Several wood and iron outhouses attached to these dwellings caught fire and were destroyed.
Fanned by the stiff breeze the fire was not long in reaching the houses built on the first rise after
leaving St. James Station towards Muizenberg. Most of the properties, however, had been
cleared of scrub, and the occupants had not much to fear beyond the scorching heat and blinding
smoke.

Melrose, the villa already mentioned, caught fire, not as a result of being in actual contact with
the flames, but owing to the fact that the roof is thatched with reeds which caught alight from the
flying sparks. Most of the furniture was removed in time, but the arrival of the Fire Brigade was
not sufficiently early to save the building from being gutted. Their service, was, however,
invaluable in saving the spread of the fire to the adjoining residences. Further along the road
towards Muizenberg the track of the fire was set further back and at the back of Mr. Garlick’s
house a belt of trees and bush was left untouched. The adjoining residence, Barkly House, has a
thatched roof and by the same good turn of fortune it escaped the doom that befell the other two
villas of similar kinds of roofs.

Rhodes Cottage Alight
Not far removed from the spot is the Rhodes Cottage, and in view of the fate of Melrose, the
caretaker with a willing band of helpers, removed the art treasures, mementos and the old
furniture to a place of safety. It was well they did so, for the storm of sparks and embers set fire
to the thatched roof. The City Fire Brigade had received a first call from the occupiers of
Melrose, but they stopped on their way from Muizenberg to save, if possible, the historic place
which was, however, damaged by fire and water. At 5.30 pm the bush above Sir Abe Bailey’s
residence, Rust-en-Vrede, was still burning, but the main body of the fire had moved to the
shoulder of the mountain, and was just dying out.

Occurring at a time when most of the able-bodied men were in the city, there was naturally a
scarcity of fire-beaters, not that it would have been possible to stop the onrush of flames. What
the feelings of these inmates of the houses that were threatened were at the non-appearance of
menfolk in response to telephone calls for assistance can be readily imagined. Later trolley loads
of sailors arrived from Simon’s Town, but too late to take part in the earlier and more serious
stages of the fire.

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