About 200 people have been left homeless after four fires swept across Cape Town on Good Friday.
|||Cape Town - About 200 people have been left homeless after four fires raged around Cape Town on Good Friday.
Disaster Risk Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the first fire broke out in Kalkfontein and firefighters arrived at the scene at 6.56pm.
The blaze was extinguished in just over 30 minutes, but by then
21 shacks and a house had been destroyed, leaving an estimated 88 people homeless.
At Masiphumelele informal settlement, a fire destroyed 25 shacks and three houses, leaving 60 people, including two babies, homeless.
It is believed the fire might have started when a burning lamp fell over and ignited bedding in one of the shacks.
One woman was treated for smoke inhalation and a man was treated for a fractured ankle after the roof of his house collapsed while he was standing on it.
He was taken to False Bay Hospital.
On Friday night, a fire at Fisantekraal informal settlement, near Durbanville, destroyed 11 shacks, and 41 people – 25 adults and 16 children – were left homeless.
It is believed that the fire might have started after a lit paraffin stove
fell over.
Another fire at Lusaka informal settlement in Gugulethu destroyed four backyard dwellings and left 16 people homeless.
Residents tried in vain to extinguish the fire, using buckets of water, before firefighters and other emergency services officials arrived at the scene.
It is believed that the fire might have been caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring of one of the shacks.
Solomons-Johannes said the victims of the fires were given emergency packs, which included food parcels, blankets, baby packs, clothing and building materials.
kowthar.solomons@inl.co.za
Weekend Argus