South African Wildfire Wipes Out Collection Of Precious African History

University of Cape Town, South Africa in flames as a 
wildfire roared onto the college campus. The fire
destroyed many priceless records and artifacts. 

Globally, wildfires are an increasing danger as climate change intensifies local droughts.

An especially tragic one hit Cape Town, South Africa last week, causing serious damage, especially to the University of Cape Town. 

The journal Nature reports:

"The library complex houses UCT's Special Collections, which hold irreplaceable artifacts, including annotated watercolors of plant and animals dated from 1881, painted by Indigenous inhabitants of the Cape. It also holds maps, manuscripts, and government records from the Cape's mottled past - including its colonial and military history."

Other dangerous wildfires broke out in recent days in Arizona, and in of all places, Northern Ireland. 

The South African fire was easily the worst, and demonstrates how wildfires can have devastating effects in ways that surprise and crush the spirit. 

The fire gutted the University of Cape Town African Studies Library, home to a collection of African history.

The usual suspects are to blame for this terrible wildfire. While officials haven't pinned down the exact source of the fire, it's widely believed to have been started by humans, as are most wildfires. 

Perhaps it was somebody cooking in the woods, and the fire got out of hand.  An arsonist was arrested, but at last report it's unclear if that person was responsible for the conflagration. 

The fire took off due to unusually hot, dry and windy weather.  A specific hot spell like the one that hit Cape Town at the time of the fire cannot be readily attributed to climate change. But weather like that becomes more likely in a warming world.  

According to Nature, researchers have put up an online page asking anyone with photos or digital scans of the library's collections to upload them. 

Notes Nature:

"''This archive is special for all sorts of reasons, and for me it's because it includes collections which provide a record of the ordinary lives of ordinary people in the area - from working-class children to Black students attending night school, says Sarah Emily Duff, a historian of South Africa based at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. 'We lose that texture of everyday life and struggles with a catastrophe like this,' she added." 

If this fire was brought on by climate change, there's a little irony in the damage to University:

"The university's botany building was also seriously damaged. In the Plant Conservation Unit, where researchers track changes in studying fossilized pollen and comparing historical photos with current day images, the damage is total, says the unit's leader, Timm Hoffman a historical ecologist."

 Some student housing and a restaurant also burned down in the fire. 

The following seems odd, since we think of Northern Ireland as damp, but a wildfire in the Mourne Mountains there has caused a lot of damage to fauna and wildlife. 

This is the second spring in a row damaging wildfires have struck Northern Ireland.