A community leader is pleading with residents to stop drinking while cooking after 24 shacks burnt down in Overcome Heights at the weekend.
Michelle Pietersen says: “This is the second fire in two weeks and it is because people go out to drink and then they come back home and start cooking.
“The man in the latest incident fell asleep and 23 families have been affected.”
She says the fire happened after midnight on Monday: “The firefighters couldn’t even access the shacks because the structures are on top of each other.
“The firemen had to jump into people’s yards.
“When I saw the gentleman he was in pants and his blue T-shirt burnt.
“They had to remove it and his flesh came off too. The man was rushed to hospital.”
She says people are now trying to rebuild their homes.
“Disaster Management has been in the area since the fire and they were accompanied by Law Enforcement vehicles.
“This all could have been avoided, people must cook before they go and drink.”
Meanwhile, in Lost City, Mitchells Plain, four families are left destitute after a druggie burnt his mattress.
A resident says the fire started in a Wendy house.
“The guy who stays there is a drug addict and he was lighting up something when his mattress caught fire.
“The flames spread quickly that we had no control of it.
“Four formal dwellings were burnt and people have been left with nothing, only the clothes we are wearing.”