Pictures of fire-ravaged University of Cape Town, Table Mountain and Rhodes Memorial restaurant are circulating on Twitter as thousands react in shock at the destruction of several historic buildings, including on the university’s upper campus.

The university’s Jagger Library, which houses an African studies collection from around the continent is trending on Twitter as former students and concerned citizens react to the fire.

Laura Robinson from the Cape Town Heritage Trust told TimesLIVE on Monday the material destroyed at the library was from the entire continent. Experts made their way to the institution to assess the damage.

It is unclear how much of the documents and archival footage was stored digitally.

City officials were alerted about the fire before 9am on Sunday.

“About 8.45am the city’s fire and rescue service was alerted to a vegetation fire above Philip Kgosana Drive. Fire crews were immediately dispatched to the scene with the fire spreading from Rhodes Memorial towards the University of Cape Town (UCT),” said Cape Town fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse.

On Monday afternoon asthma sufferers were urged to stay indoors or leave the fire zone as the fire continued to worsen. A metro cop told TimesLIVE: “We came here at about 7am and we saw the flames jump the freeway [Philip Kgosana Drive]. The wind is terrible and much worse than yesterday [Sunday.]”

From hardworking firefighters to devastation at UCT, here are 10 telling pictures: