Cape town - Nearly 60 people have been left homeless after fires broke out simultaneously in the informal settlements at Sonwabile Drive in Crossroads and at the Nonquebela railway station in Khayelitsha.
No one was hurt or killed, but 16 structures were destroyed in Crossroads, leaving 50 people displaced, and another three shacks were destroyed in Khayelitsha, leaving six people homeless.
Nine emergency vehicles were sent to Crossroads, while six vehicles went to the Khayelitsha fire.
It is not clear what started the Crossroads fire, but the Khayelitsha fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault that ignited bedding, said Wilfred Solomons-Johannes of the city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre.
Crossroads residents said the fire spread so quickly that they fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
An hour-and-a-half later residents were salvaging what they could from the burnt rubble, alongside firefighters who were dousing the dying embers.
Barefoot and dishevelled, Siphsethu Kitchen, 21, walked from the badly damaged shack that she had shared with her mother and baby sister.
She was clutching a small envelope with her identity book and other documents. The fire, which gutted the living area, had been extinguished moments before it engulfed the family’s bedroom area.
“I am happy for this, because life can be difficult without an ID. At least I could save my baby sister. But still, I have nothing left. Not even shoes.”
Asked what she needed, Xoliswa Faleni, who lost her home of 12 years, said: “Clothes, food and shelter.”
Some residents said that they had family in the area, while others said that they were in Cape Town alone and would have to ask neighbours to take them in for the night.
Solomons-Johannes helped victims with food parcels, blankets, baby packs, clothing and building materials.
“When going to bed, residents should isolate electrical devices and extinguish gas burners, candles, lamps and paraffin stoves to prevent fires,” he said.
Cape Argus