It broke out at approximately 20:30 on 17 March 2009 in the vicinity of Rhodes Memorial and initial fears were that the fire would spread to UCT's Upper Campus.

At around 23:20 on Tuesday evening, the fire started moving up Devil's Peak and by 00:00 was at the tip and making its way around the mountain to the suburbs of Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht, Vredehoek and Gardens on the north side.

The flames were engulfing the mountain and the huge amounts of smoke made it hard for rescue and fire-fighting helicopters making their way to the fire.

By 00:30, people from the aforementioned areas were told to evacuate due to the strong winds pushing the fire around the mountain.

The fire had originally spread from the UCT and Rhodes Memorial area to the other end of the mountain within 2 hours.