r/capetown • u/Rich-Bad4847 • Jun 15 '25
Video Looks like Arson To Me
Always thankful for our firefighters and sad for the poor animals :/
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u/Maleficent-Crow-5 has beef with Hellen Zille 🥊 Jun 15 '25
If people could just stop burning down nature
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u/mythdragon15890 Jun 15 '25
I mean it’s also been uncharacteristically hot over the last two day. Might be coincidence though.
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u/ThrowAway22030202 Jun 16 '25
Fires don’t light themselves contrary to popular belief. It’s extremely rare for some weird thing to happen like a clean glass bottle using light to cause a fire.
The majority of fires we see are caused by idiots with cigarettes, homeless people, religious ceremonies and arson.
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u/Rich-Bad4847 Jun 15 '25
I also thought the same thing. There is a lot of moist in the morning though if you know what I mean?
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u/mythdragon15890 Jun 15 '25
Oh for sure, cooler nights and dew so it should be moist. That being said it could be arson or accidental but no one has been caught right, and our rangers are using drones etc so surely by now they would have caught someone? Just hoping to be optimistic:/
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Jun 15 '25
So fucken sick of this. I've lost count of how many times the mountain (above my house) has been set on fire in the last few years. Someone HAS to stop those people in the religious garments who go up there to hold ceremonies. Your religion doesn't give you the right to commit arson. I'm so tired of it. Ban them from the mountain there is almost no wildlife left alive up there, it's a national frikken park for God's sake. The Cape government and individual municipalities have to do something, there are so many fires every year that its unsustainable
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u/scudsucker Jun 16 '25
Different mountain, different country... but I was once decending and we walked through a bunch of religious guys wearing white doing their thing.
Which was weird for me, but as I had had three and a half tabs of very strong LSD.... it was fairly fucking weird for them. Crazy eyes. They probably thought demons in hiking gear just passed through.
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u/tenjoutenge Ahoy Jun 16 '25
[Genuine question]Im curious to know which religions go up on mountains and burn candles?
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Jun 15 '25
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Jun 15 '25
You are completely wrong, sorry, but that opinion is misinformed. Fynbos requires a 5-10 year burn cycle. Currently the mountain is burning down twice a year, the plants have no chance to mature to seed bearing age before the are destroyed. Sorry but I can't stand it when people know nothing but think the should comment, the decrease in wildlife species is well documented. I've also personally lived on these mountains for 40 years and can tell you from personal experience that there used to be 10x more snakes, birds, small mammals etc than there are now. These are isolated areas of natural habitat.
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Jun 15 '25
The entire mountain isn't burning twice a year. Any given part of it is burning on a 5-10 year cycle. Some areas even slower than that.
This isn't my opinion misinformed or otherwise this is what the MD of SANParks said in her presentation 3 weeks ago.2
Jun 15 '25
This is the 3rd fire this year. You have no idea what you are talking about you are just recycling talking points you've read online. The only reason today's fire isn't worse is that the last one, 2 months ago, was so bad theres almost nothing to burn.
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Jun 15 '25
"This is the 3rd fire this year." None of which burnt the entire park.
"you are just recycling talking points you've read online" I literally just told you what my source is and it isn't an online one.
I've also lived on the mountain for decades mate and yes I've read many academic articles on the subject which you may find online. I know exactly what I am talking about. You on the other hand are filled with hate for some reason for people practicing their religion and cannot think clearly as a result.
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u/tahaan Jun 15 '25
Arson is unlikely at such a hard to reach location. Please don't create rumours.
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u/Hicklethumb Jun 15 '25
Pray tell how else do the fires start in the middle of winter if it's not a person starting them
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Jun 16 '25
I used to be a wildland firefighter for the VWS.
You will be amazed how many possible ignition sources there actually are. Yes, arson's a common one. But sometimes it can even be caused by something as crazy as a rock fall.
But regardless, even if it is arson, its irresponsible for OP to go around making claims without proper evidence or without an official report and it can actually even be dangerous to firefighters. Fake and inaccurate news is a wildfire all by itself and can be just as dangerousas a real wildfire!
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u/Hicklethumb Jun 16 '25
100%. Strange for Reddit, but I'm allying with your response.
My point was rather biased to negligence being as good as arson, as the bare minimum is required to prevent fires starting. Especially when living in SA. i.e, don't start fires if you don't know how to contain it. Or don't leave shit around that start fires. In the middle of winter we really can't blame dry conditions.
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Jun 16 '25
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u/Antique_Onion_9474 Jun 20 '25
the regular fires in the mountains between Worcester and Paarl are 90% because of those religious group and burning candles.
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u/benevolent-badger Jun 15 '25
arson: the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to things.
negligence: failure to take proper care over something.
Know the difference
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Jun 15 '25
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u/capetown-ModTeam Jun 15 '25
Your Comment/Post was Removed as it violates our Rules on Rude, Belittling, or Hostile content. See Rule 4.
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u/SuspiciouslyB Jun 15 '25
Make me think it’s one of those traditional African ceremonies with open flames in the open.
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u/Fantom_Renegade Vannie 'Kaap Jun 15 '25
Was it ever revealed why arsonists target mountains?
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u/CuddlyLiveWires Jun 15 '25
Most of the time it's people who squat on the mountain. So while they deliberately start a fire, the damage is often not the intent
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u/rg123 Jun 15 '25
Thanks for that explanation. I think most of us assume arson = intent to destroy, not "intent to start a fire to stay warm that gets out of control".
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u/CuddlyLiveWires Jun 15 '25
And you're right. And that's why charges seldom get placed and sometimes dropped after they are pressed
Quick example: https://groundup.org.za/article/man-arrested-table-mountain-fire-no-longer-faces-arson-charges/
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u/PurpleHat6415 Jun 15 '25
those were dropped because there was no evidence he had anything to do with it not because anyone felt sorry, he was just in that area much later and apprehended initially by neighbours next to High Cape.
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u/Playful_Newspaper280 Jun 15 '25
There are several private fire fighting companies. They only get paid when there is a fire. They also pay their staff minimum wage, plus overtime. I’m not saying it’s them but the incentive is there and should not be.
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Jun 16 '25
This is accurate. The rates of wildfires also dramatically decreased the literal month these companies lost contracts. There was a time when people were finding incendiary devices on mountain tops and off trails, the baboon monitors famously turned in a sophisticated firebomb designed to go off when temperatures exceeded a certain level. Its conspiratorial for sure but take from it what you will
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u/Gabriella_123 Jun 17 '25
Poor helpless animals 😢 do you know how many passed? And what kind? How exactly was the fire started? A vagrant starting a fire to keep warm? Thank you for sharing
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u/Live-Specific1949 Jun 17 '25
Ja it's the church vibes. Sanparks has brooght charges against them for this.
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u/Solid_Foundation8365 Jun 16 '25
It doesn’t matter, if it was caused by a person that person is long gone, now they have to focus on putting out the fire. I’ve seen lightning start a fire, so many possibilities.
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u/shrekshrekdonkey5 Jun 15 '25
Based on its location its probably the result of a religious ceremony where they don't extinguish the candles afterward or a homeless person making a cooking fire. They will probably have a fire investigator on it