A Simon’s Town guesthouse owner has told of how he managed to keep his home safe from the blaze by watering down the back of his house.

Napthali Lodge owner Rob McLean told News24 between coughs on Thursday afternoon that he was able to save his house thanks to buckets of water and “prayers”. McLean said he and his helpers watched the fire destroy vegetation just metres away instead.

According to the city’s disaster risk management centre, the blaze destroyed four houses on Dorries Drive, a house in Harrington Street and 10 structures in Oatland Holiday Village.

“I have a Wendy house which is wood and the fire was probably one or two metres away,” he said.

Seeing the fire on the slopes above Dorries Drive, McLean started watering down the back of the house.

“One of the guests came back to help with a bucket as well as my neighbour. I couldn’t see because of the smoke.”

He also watered down his wooden front door and inside his front passage.

“I was trying to work out what would go first because we have a lot of wood in our house.”

He stood where the vegetation had burnt around his house and called it “an absolute miracle”.

“We sent out word to our Christian friends. He [God] heard us and said: we will save this guy,” he said with a chuckle.

Firefighters worked through the night to contain the fire. It started on Wednesday afternoon, fanned by strong winds and high temperatures. News24