Durban – The 25th floor of an iconic Durban building - 320 West Street - was gutted by fire on Wednesday night. Strong winds and a lack of water pressure made firefighters’ job difficult.
Trevor Stevens, divisional commander of the Durban Fire Department, said the cause of the fire was unknown at this stage.
Firefighters had to cut through security gates, break glass and panel doors to gain access to the offices where the fire began.
Relaying what happened on Wednesday night, Stevens said they had problems with the water pressure for 45 minutes until a buildling supervisor arrived to switch on the water pumps.
“The fire spread from two offices to several offices on the floor. It was put out by 11.30pm.”
He said the building had fire hose reels and outlets for the fire department to plug into but these needed a boost so that water could reach the building’s top floors.
Buildingfire at 320 West Street in Durban Central. https://t.co/nH82PfkOrl @rescuecare #DurbanFire @EMERGCONTROL pic.twitter.com/jziGWaAKau
— Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) December 28, 2016
“We had water pressure problems and at one stage the water in the rooftop tanks was depleted. But by then the supervisor arrived. Firemen are trained well but carrying equipment back and forth to the 25th floor can be an exhaustive task,” Stevens said.
Stevens said their concern was containing the fire to one floor.
“If it had spread to the upper or lower floors it would have been dangerous. We had about 20 firefighters, six officers, four fire engines, two water tanks and a heavy rescue vehicle at the scene,” he said.
Andre Tosh watched as the events unfolded. He said the fire started at about 6pm as people were leaving the building on Dr Pixley KaSeme (West) Street.
“It was only when the fire alarm rang that people picked up the pace and started to flee from the building,” he said.
Tosh, 23, helped the eThekwini Fire Department carry up their hoses to the 25th floor when they arrived.
“The 24th and 26th floors were filled with smoke and firefighters had to use oxygen tanks to breathe,” he said.
Emergency personnel look on as firefighters battle the blaze. Picture: Jacques Naude/Daily News
When the Daily News arrived on Wednesday night, the fire was still raging and had consumed five offices on the floor.
A crowd of onlookers had formed outside the building and watched as firefighters battled the flames.
Their fight was however made difficult by strong winds blowing through the building. Glass and debris were also flying out as people looked on in shock. The fire department had closed off parts of the street to traffic.
A security guard at a nearby building said he was shocked at what he saw. “I never thought such a thing could happen to this building,” he said.
Garrith Jamieson of Rescue Care was at the scene and said there were no injuries.