Residents of a building in the Joburg CBD were stopped from jumping off the upper floors after a fire broke out on the first floor yesterday.
The fire started at around 2pm at a residential building on the corner of Rissik and De Villiers streets. It spread down to the ground floor of the building, where a salon and spaza shop operated.
Joburg emergency services said upon their arrival, there was confusion and residents wanted to jump off the building to escape the flames. However, they were reassured that they would be rescued after the fire was contained.
“We had managed to contain the fire on the first floor, and after we were done, we removed people,” said Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson Nana Lindiwe Radebe.
Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said they did not know what had caused
the fire, but they did not suspect any foul play.
“We (the police) have opened an inquiry, then we will wait for the report from EMS, then we’ll take it from there,” he said.
Radebe said there had been no fatalities or injures, but a six-month-old baby was treated for smoke inhalation.
Zinhle Sobhuza, who lives on the first floor, said she did not know what had caused the fire. She sat outside the building not knowing if her belongings had been burnt or where she would sleep last night.
“I left all my stuff inside. I still need to see what’s happening, maybe they’re burnt. I don’t know,” she said. “I’ll have to see where I sleep tonight.”
Residents suspected that a stove that had been left on sparked the blaze.
A resident who asked to remain anonymous said that when the electricity was switched off, people forgot to turn off their stoves, and this caused fires when the electricity returned.
“Sometimes the electricity will be turned off during the night and return in the morning,” she said.
She added that residents don’t have anything to extinguish fires. “There isn’t water, that is why they couldn’t contain the fire. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”
@Chulu_M