Firefighters had their hands full with four informal
residential fires, reported, on Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday.
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SCREENSHOT
A fire broke out at the Joe Slovo informal Settlement in
Langa. The City of Cape Town says approximately 90 structures were affected. No
injuries or fatalities were reported.
‘’At 19:20, a call was received of structures alight in
Mshumpela Way in Langa. We had 11 firefighting vehicles scene, with
approximately 40 staff. By 21:40, the fire was extinguished – no injuries or
fatalities were reported. Initial estimates were that approximately 40
structures were affected,’’ said Jermaine Carelse, City of Cape Town’s Fire
& Rescue Service spokesperson.
‘’At around 01:35, the Fire & Rescue Service was
activated to return to Mshumpela Way in Langa, where a second fire had broken
out. A total of 10 firefighting vehicles were on scene from various Fire
Stations and firefighters managed to contain and extinguish the fire by 04:25. It
is estimated that approximately 50 informal structures were affected. One
person was assaulted by the members of the public and was taken to a nearby
medical facility. It is unclear at this stage how these fires started,’’ he
added.
Another fire broke out just after 11p.m in Site 5, in
Dunoon. Approximately 80 structures were affected.
Carelse says no injuries or fatalities were reported.
‘’At 23:20, fire services were alerted to informal structures
burning in Site 5, Dunoon. We had 12 firefighting resources and over 50 staff
members on site - an Incident Management Team (IMT) type 4 was also activated to
assist with scene management. By 04:30 the blaze was extinguished – approximately
80 structures were affected.’’
Unfortunately, a fire that broke out in the early hours of
Sunday in Mfuleni claimed two lives.
‘’At 02:30, the Fire & Rescue Service was alerted of
informal structures alight in Umzumbe Street, Mfuleni. More than 50
firefighters were on scene, with over a dozen firefighting vehicles. By 08:50,
firefighters extinguished the blaze, with an estimate of 150 structures
destroyed in the incident,’’ said Jermaine Carelse, City of Cape Town’s Fire
& Rescue Service spokesperson.
‘’An adult male and female sustained fatal burn wounds and
were declared deceased by medics. One person sustained serious injuries and was
treated and transported to hospital, while another person (adult male) was treated
for a laceration to his arm,’’ he added.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but the South African
Police Service are probing the matter.
The City’s Disaster Risk Management’s Centre says it will
conduct assessments at the fire sites, to determine the number of structures
destroyed and persons affected.
‘’Our DRM volunteers too have been activated to assist,
while our mobile Joint Operations Centre (JOC) has been dispatched to Dunoon. The
DRMC will conduct assessments at the fire sites, to determine the number of
structures destroyed and persons affected. This process will take some time
before final numbers are determined,’’ said Charlotte Powell, City’s Disaster
Risk management spokesperson.
‘’We will also activate relevant City services to conduct
clean ups of the sites, and restore any services that may have been affected by
the fires. And, we have already alerted our humanitarian aid partners, to
provide assistance to all those affected by the fires through the provision of
food, blankets, clothing and toiletry packs, etc,’’ she added.
Done By: Mitchum George
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COURTESY: Getty Images
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