Owners of Hout Bay lodge 'shattered' after second blaze in four years

Cape Town – Owners of the Tintswalo Atlantic lodge predicted that the facility could be closed for the next five months as they counted the cost of yesterday’s fire damage.

It was the second fire in four years to affect the lodge, located at the foot of Chapman’s Peak Drive, near Hout Bay.

The owners say they were

notified of the fire at around 4am.

Owner Lisa Goosen said they were shattered by the event and it was like reliving a nightmare.

In 2015, the lodge was destroyed when a wildfire gutted thousands of hectares of vegetation and destroyed 13 other homes. “Words can’t describe what we as a family are feeling, but we are absolutely shattered.

At around 4AM this morning, Tintswalo management received word that the main lodge buildings at Tintswalo Atlantic were on fire. There were no injuries.

No further details can be confirmed at this time. We appreciate the outpouring of support and will communicate in due course.

— Tintswalo Lodges (@Tintswalolodges) February 5, 2019

“The last time it was caused by wildfire and we lost about 80% of it, and that was in excess of

R25million to rebuild.”

Goosen said the damage this time around extended to parts of the lodge that were used the most, including the kitchen, lounge and dining areas.

“We had 10 guests at the lodge at the time and they were evacuated, so it will be closed now for quite a while. The damage in the first room consists of slight

charring, but the main lodge was burnt to the ground.”

She said the cause of the fire was being investigated and the fire team was on the scene until late yesterday.

“There will be a forensic investigation into that and we will make the findings known in time. It is also too soon to say how much damage was done monetarily, but 50% of the lodge was affected.”

City Fire and Rescue spokesperson Theo Layne said they deployed two water tankers and one

rescue vehicle with 26 firefighters to respond to the fire.

Cape Times