Devastating Fire in Wuppertal

[Nanfeishen]

CAPE TOWN – The cause of a devastating fire in the Cederberg town of Wupperthal is still under investigation.
Mop-up operations are underway after the blaze gutted dozens of structures on Sunday.
No injuries had been reported.
Wesley April is one of the scores of Wupperthal homeowners, who have been left to pick up the pieces after a devastating fire gutted his house.
The Kraaifontein resident spent the last few days at his family's holiday home and returned to Cape Town just hours before the blaze ripped through the Cederberg town destroying 53 homes, a community hall and a restaurant.

https://ewn.co.za/2019/01/01/cause-of-devastating-wupperthal-fire-under-investigation

Hectic

 

[Gordon_R]

When I saw the newsflash yesterday I though it was just a veld fire. Houses burned is very sad. Very quaint and historic town.

A quick image search shows a lot of houses had thatched roofs...

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...thal-after-another-western-cape-fire-20181231

 

[Hemi300c]

Dam this is terrible but when are people going to learn thatch is dangerous.

 

[The_Ogre]

Dam this is terrible but when are people going to learn thatch is dangerous.

Same thing happens in St. Francis Bay year after year. Those idiots don't learn.

 

[Blu82]

Same thing happens in St. Francis Bay year after year. Those idiots don't learn.

You may want to compare the age of the Wuppertal to St Francis Bay buildings first before making that comparison. The restaurant and surrounding buildings far exceeded a 100 years during my last visit there.

If I wanted the middle of nowhere in South Africa that is the town I will pick.

 

[Gordon_R]

Dam this is terrible but when are people going to learn thatch is dangerous.

The big difference is the prevailing wind speeds in summer. Thatch without wind should only destroy a single building. Not sure what went wrong in Wupperthal.

 

[Hemi300c]

The big difference is the prevailing wind speeds in summer. Thatch without wind should only destroy a single building. Not sure what went wrong in Wupperthal.

Not quite a thatch fire burns so hot it causes a wind that disperses the embers quite a distance.
Seen it a few times in my proffesion being insurance.

 

[Gordon_R]

Not quite a thatch fire burns so hot it causes a wind that disperses the embers quite a distance.
Seen it a few times in my proffesion being insurance.

Valid point about embers dispersing! I meant the relative wind risk in St Francis Bay.

A related factor that I omitted is proximity of the structures. The old town center is quite dispersed, but there is a relatively high density residential development, which looks pretty, but matches those criteria: https://www.google.com/maps/@-32.276432,19.2166353,401m/data=!3m1!1e3

This photo shows the proximity of the burning structures: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=160868434876116&set=pcb.160869301542696&type=3&theater

Mitigating factors such as the presence of a fire-brigade, and abundant water resources, may both have been limited.

This photo shows a single water point for the fire brigade: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=160868474876112&set=pcb.160869301542696&type=3&theater