Rescuers working in sweltering heat have helped at least four hikers on Table Mountain, while fire services battled a number of blazes, and lifeguards monitored packed beaches.

Three people died in a fire in Bishop Lavis at the weekend, and a fire on Sunday gutted 39 shacks in Railway Street, Woodstock, leaving about 110 people homeless.

No one was injured in the Woodstock blaze, the cause of which had not been established by late on Sunday.

The temperature soared to 38°C in the city centre and peaked at about 45°C in Vredendal on Sunday.

The heat wave is expected to continue on on Monday.

A tourist hiking in Platteklip Gorge collapsed in the severe heat and had to be airlifted.
It is understood she was about 300 metres from the bottom of the mountain when she succumbed.

A second hiker, a man who was feeling ill, was airlifted from a spot about 100m from the top of Platteklip Gorge.
He did not need medical attention when he was delivered to the bottom of the mountain.

The day before, rescuers had also been busy on Table Mountain.
A woman hiker fractured her ankle and had to be airlifted off Kasteel’s Poort on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, a man developed trouble breathing and had to be walked down the mountain.
Firefighters battled a number of grass fires that broke out across the greater Cape Town region.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, the spokesperson for the city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre, said that rescue personnel were on high alert and would remain so for the next few days.

The highest temperature recorded on Sunday was 44°C in Paarl.
While people in the town complained of the “stifling heat”, scores of crocodiles on a farm in the Paarl area were in their element in the scorching weather.

“These are normal conditions for the crocs,” said Maryna Moss, the co-owner of the Le Bonheur Crocodile Farm.
“While we’re sweating out here, they are absolutely loving it. The crocodiles are in seventh heaven.”

In Worcester, where temperatures reached about 43°C, workers at Ouma Se Kombuis, a bakery, decided to wait for the evening before they started baking.
“We would rather work through the night because of the heat,” said Bernie Jansen, a supervisor at the bakery.

“I want to go to sleep, but I can’t even do that because of the heat.
“And tonight I know it’s still going to be hot, so I’m going to struggle to sleep.

Temperatures are expected to drop slightly from on Tuesday.