Talk:2006 Table Mountain fire

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On 13 May 2021, it was proposed that this article be moved from Table Mountain fire (2006) to 2006 Table Mountain fire. The result of the discussion was moved.

Oldest Comments

Wow, I was wondering what all the smoke was about...When did this start? Banez 20:10, 26 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The afternoon of January 26, 2006.--ViolinGirl^♪ 21:12, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Gardens

I've changed the link to Gardens to normal text, as the suburb of Gardens and the Garden article are unrelated. If anyone disagrees, change it. Crumpuppet 08:57, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Driving home from work

I was driving home from work in Tygerburg at 5pm yesterday when I finally saw the magnitude of the blaze. The smoke covered the whole of the City Bowl and extended over the Cape Flats. The sun could be looked at with the naked eye as it came through the thick red smoke. Quite a frightening sight. ---TimK, Cape Town, SA.

I can imagine. Its like it was in 2000. Banez 09:29, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

- There is a video of the fire and some fire-fighters here [1]. Laurie Scheepers 16:27, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Naming the "Briton"

Should we name the guy charged with starting the fire? His name is in all the press reports cited but what are the issues around naming, the ethics etc.?

AFAIK, under SA law you can name a suspect once they have appeared in court, because the court records are public in any case. But I Am Not A Lawyer. I would imagine, however, that since he has been named in the Cape Town newspapers as well as on the BBC [2], there can't really be much of an ethical issue? - htonl 23:44, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the only worry I have is that news reports go away fairly quickly whilst wikipedia is forever (the history page...). So if this guy is innocent we might ruin his name for nothing. Also, news24 or mg.co.za have a very limited readership - wikipedia is the, what, 19th most popular site on the web? That is quite serious if the guy is innocent... What do you think? Mikkerpikker ... 00:31, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I see your point, but if he is at some point found to be innocent, presumably we would also add that information to the article? The BBC website is the 22nd most popular site [3] (as opposed to Wikipedia's 31), BBC News articles don't go away [4], and the BBC has published his name [5].

Seriously, I don't think mentioning his name on Wikipedia is going to ruin his name any more than it already has been by being published in the major SA and British media. I know we're all a bit touchy since the Seigenthaler incident and so on, but everything in this article is verifiable and equivalent to what has been published in the mainstream media. Wikipedia may be one of the most popular sites on the web; that doesn't mean that many people will read this page who haven't already seen the name in the media. I do feel, however, that naming the village he comes from is going a bit too far. - htonl 22:52, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, ok, I agree with you... I was being somewhat over cautious, naming is fine by me. Mikkerpikker ... 20:00, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Fire contained

[6] - can someone please add this stuff, I need to go! Mikkerpikker ... 06:56, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What's happened in court?

Hi Cooper was supposed to appear in court on the 10th... what's happened? Anyone see news sources? I can't find anything... Mikker ^... 00:13, 12 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

With his appearance on the 27 January, the case was postponed to 31 March for further investigation. He has been prohibited from leaving the Western Cape. (Src: Die Burger, Britse toeris in hof ná rampbrand op Tafelberg, in Afrikaans)

Images

Happened to stumble here via Pgk's talk page. Could someone have a look at NASA's Natural Hazards satellite archive to see if the images/event described in the links are related to this incident? If they are, might want to upload the satellite images. – Ch acor 09:52, 10 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Those photos actually show much bigger fires which were at about the same time, but in the countryside further away from Cape Town. - htonl 18:10, 11 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Merge back?

I think this article should be merged back into the main Table Mountain article now that the hub-bub has died down. After almost a year there is nothing more interesting to say other than there was a fire and someone is being charged for it. The smaller details such as firefighters being given food and water can probably be left out. Remember, this is an encyclopedia, not a newspaper. Although those minute details were newsworthy at the time, readers don't come to an encyclopedia to find such detail. This article could be pared down to about two paragraphs and given a dedicated section in the Table Mountain article. Zun aid ©® 14:15, 12 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree -- WP:NOT paper, it doesn't really fit into Table Mountain (as the fire was also elsewhere - e.g. Lion's Head) and, besides, what harm do the details do? If somone doesn't care about them, they can choose not to read the article. In contrast, someone who *is* interested will find the details useful. Mikker ^(...) 19:22, 12 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also disagree, for the same reasons. Zaian 06:39, 17 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]