It broke out at approximately 4 p.m. on 26 January 2006 above Tafelberg Road, and spread quickly due to dry conditions and strong winds of up to 60 knots (110 km/h; 69 mph).

[3] Three helicopters from Working on Fire, a government-private poverty alleviation initiative, waterbombed the blaze for most of the afternoon of the 26th, but had to leave the area as darkness fell.

However, in the early evening of the 27th the wind picked up, fanning hotspots still left over and by nightfall the mountain was ablaze, and, despite extra firefighters brought in from as far afield as Clanwilliam and Mpumalanga, a long night's work was predicted for emergency personnel.

[6] A 36-year-old British man, Anthony Cooper of Gowerton, was arrested on the 26th after allegedly causing the fire by discarding a burning cigarette butt from his car while stopped on the mountain.

[7] On 23 May, after he failed to appear for an unrelated charge of driving under the influence two days before the fire, magistrate Ingrid Freitag issued a warrant for Cooper's arrest and provisionally forfeited his bail.