Cape Town - A fallen candle is believed to be the cause of a fire that destroyed five housing structures in Heideveld in which five families lost their belongings.
One formal house and four wendy houses were destroyed, 10 adults and four children homeless on Tuesday.
Ashraf Scott said the fire started from one of the wendy houses, just three minutes before 5am.
“By the time we were awoken it was already late and we still don’t understand why the use of a candle, when we had electricity.
“When I woke up I only managed to take my daughter, my phone and a jacket, and made away under the flames,” he said.
Scot criticised what he said was the fire department’s late response, who arrived after “everything had already perished”.
“When standing on top of the roof of my house one can see the fire department, which is less than 3km from here, but it took them more than 45 minutes to respond, and when they eventually did, brought trucks with no water and we had to wait for the tanker to come and supply them with water,” he said.
Another victim Nuraan Cummings said their priority was to rebuild after they had finished clearing the debris. Cummings pleaded for any form of assistance.
“With everything burnt to the ground and us left with nothing, we basically need anything to help restart our lives, including clothes and food. We have to first look at rebuilding but we are in need of building materials, stationery and school uniforms for the kids, including a matriculant,” she said.
City Fire and Rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said the service was alerted at approximately 5.10am on Tuesday to a wendy house burning in Laingsburg Street, Heideveld.
Crews from Gugulethu, Goodwood and Epping were on scene with two fire engines, a water tanker and a rescue vehicle.
“A formal dwelling was destroyed and several informal structures. A separate entrance was partially damaged and a number of persons were displaced,” he said, adding that the fire was extinguished just after 7am and no injuries were reported.
Carelse said the vehicles did not arrive without water as suggested by Scott. He said once the water in the tanks of the fire appliances runs out, the fire hydrants were used to augment the water supply, as was the case in this incident.