Evacuations as mountain fire spreads in Cape Town

Residents were being evacuated from Cape Town neighbourhoods on Monday as a wildfire spreading on the slopes of South Africa's famed Table Mountain was fanned by strong winds overnight and houses came under threat.

More than 250 city and volunteer firefighters have been deployed to battle the fire that has already damaged parts of the University of Cape Town, including the library, a historic windmill, and a restaurant near a memorial for Cecil Rhodes.

Helicopters with water containers suspended on ropes are scooping up water from swimming pools and the nearby ocean and dumping it on the fire.

City authorities said residents of parts of the Vredehoek suburb were being evacuated as a "precautionary" measure after the blaze spread toward the area.

Devil's Peak, one of the iconic points of the mountain, was lit up in the early hours of the morning by the flames, which had now spread to the front side of the mountain and toward residential areas.

A man in his 30s had been arrested on suspicion of arson, a city official said, although it's not clear if he was responsible for starting the blaze, which began early Sunday.

The man was arrested Sunday night after witnesses reported seeing three people moving through flames on the mountain slopes setting more fires, Cape Town safety and security official JP Smith told The Associated Press.

Wildfires on the mountains surrounding Cape Town are fairly common during the hot, dry summer months but are sometimes fanned into huge, uncontrollable blazes by strong winds.