The evacuations started in the early hours of Monday and are expected to continue.
Schools in the area are also being evacuated.
Warm clothes, children and pets were bundled into cars as confused and scared Vredehoek residents gathered at the Derry Street Spar in the early hours of Monday.
They were the first residents to be evacuated from Peppertree Road and surrounds, as firefighters tried to douse a runaway fire that started on Sunday morning.
The fire has already destroyed the Rhodes Memorial restaurant, the iconic Mostert Mill and historic UCT buildings.
More than 250 firefighters have been battling the blaze for over 24 hours, while four firefighters have been injured, said the City of Cape Town s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse.
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Rhodes Memorial wildfire: Latest on firefighting efforts, evacuations and how to donate
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Cape Town - The Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) has provided an update on protocol for evacuations, ongoing firefighting efforts and where Capetonians can drop of donations as efforts forge ahead to contain the Rhodes Memorial blaze.
The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said that they were alerted to the vegetation fire above Philip Kgosana Drive at about 8.45am this morning.
Working on Fire general manager Melany Duthie-Surtie said the Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment, Working on Fire in the Western Cape had dispatched 58 firefighters, four choppers, and a spotter to assist the Table Mountain National Park in the suppression effort of the De Waal Drive fire that broke out this morning.
UCT students, staff evacuated as out of control fire rages on by Rhodes Memorial
By Sisonke Mlamla
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Cape Town - A fire alarm cued students to evacuate some of their residences at the University of Cape Town (UCT) this afternoon, after a fire spread through the campus.
UCT said all students have been evacuated from campus by emergency services support staff, and have taken them to predetermined locations.
UCT said they will continue to work with and support SANParks and the City of Cape Town to extinguish this fire.
UCT SRC chairperson Declan Dyer said the priority now was to evacuate students, and get them to a safe place, where they could consolidate and sort out any additional off-campus residences to accommodate those who were evacuated.