Cape Town presented fire statistics for the past eight weeks that shows increase in year-on-year in both vegetation and residential fires. The emergency services by the City of Cape Town continues to hold the line.
Not all fire heroes wear bunker gear. It’s a stark reminder to the public that fire safety and prevention is business of everyone. Fires cases in the different categories were increased by 5% to 16% as compared to the previous year.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith said that the higher temperatures over the period in review are a factor and over the past few summers, the south-easter has also extended its stay.
Smith added that it is not only about the fan flames, where fires do occur but also about the bedevil firefighting efforts.
According to the statistics presented by the Fire and Rescue Services from Dec 01, 2025 to Jan 15, 2026, the formal residential fires has seen the biggest increase of over 16% year-on-year.
Between Oct 2025 and Jan 09, 2026, the Disaster Risk Management Centre of the City of Cape Town coordinated relief efforts for 6999 people who were affected by fires around the metropole.
Alderman JP Smith further stated that there is increasing pressure on the services to not only respond to the fire incidents but also to the post disaster recovery efforts. He believes that these fires disrupt thousands of lives every year and many people struggle for months, to find their feet.
It is among the main reasons that they need to put greater emphasis on disaster reduction. Each and every one of them needs to start thinking differently about the role in fire prevention and mitigation. Further, they should be aware of what they can do on their homes and community to lower the risk of fires and other hazards or to mitigate the impact when disaster does strike.
Residents of Cape Town are encouraged to think proactively about potential hazards such as fire and how they can reduce the risk of these incidents occurring or the impact when they do actually face this.