Durban - Three weeks after an informal settlement in Reservoir Hills was engulfed in flames that resulted in the death of a man, another informal settlement in the area caught alight last night at the M19 off ramp.
While the eThekwini’s Disaster Management Unit still compiling a list on the number of families affected.
EThekwini Fire Division Commander Melvin Ramlall when they arrived on the scene at about midnight about ten units were fully engulfed by the blaze.
“We quickly surrounded the fire getting it under control and were able to do so. There were no injuries reported. Fortunately the fire was close to the road and was easy to access and we were able to stop it and have it under control rapidly,” said Ramlall.
He said four metro police units were also on scene assisting at the M19 which had to closed as three rescue pumps and one water carrier were used to put out the inferno.
Ramlall said the cause of the fire was unknown at this stage however he had learnt that there had allegedly been some violent altercations before firefighters got there.
He said about four or five calls reporting the fire had been made to the emergency centre.
Area councillor Sagar Singh said he contacted the city’s Disaster Management Team last night when the fire broke out.
Sagar said it was the team who would be able to give accurate data when it came to the number of shacks that were engulfed in the fire.
On October 25 Moses Mbambo sustained third degree burns all over his body from a fire that was suspected to have started in his shack at the New Germany Informal Settlement.
More than 1000 people were displaced as a result of the fire and 400 shacks were destroyed.
At the time, his 10-year-old son managed to escape the fire but Mbambo was not so lucky and succumbed to his injuries in hospital the following day.
A week after the fire building material was supplied by the city to these residents and the Department of Social Development provided blankets and food parcels.
Daily News