Battery fire at Table Mountain Aerial Cableway halts cable car service in Cape Town

In 2024, a fire broke out in the Lower Station parking garage of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway in Cape Town, South Africa, in a lithium-ion battery bank used as backup power for the cableway. The fire started in the early afternoon and was reported as contained within about four hours. It damaged the parking garage and an adjacent administration building but did not reach the machinery driving the cableway. Passengers who were at the upper terminal at the time were brought down safely. Retail and catering services at the lower terminal continued to operate, while cableway operations were suspended pending a structural engineering assessment of the affected buildings. The cause was under investigation at the time of reporting.

Not reported. Sources stated that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

1. Assess backup battery systems installed in enclosed spaces such as parking structures for fire spread risk to adjacent buildings and to machinery critical to site operations, and consider separation distances, fire rated compartmentation and detection appropriate to lithium-ion hazards.
2. Include in emergency response plans a tested procedure for evacuating people from elevated or remote parts of a site who depend on the affected system, including manual or backup means of return.
3. Plan in advance for post-incident structural assessment of fire affected buildings before resuming operations, even where the critical plant itself is undamaged.
4. Identify which ancillary services can continue safely while the main operation is suspended, so that business continuity decisions are made against pre-agreed criteria rather than under time pressure.

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