Defective firefighting equipment is being blamed for extensive damage caused by a fire at a Pick n Pay store in Brits.

"Their pipes leaked and burst and they only had two engines," the store's owner Peter Powell was quoted by Beeld as saying of the local fire brigade.

About R35 million in damage was caused. The bakery manager called Powell just after 6am on Wednesday to say there was a fire. The fire brigade arrived quickly, but the blaze was only extinguished after 12.30pm. Nobody was injured.

The roof caved in and everything in the shop was destroyed.

According to Beeld one of the Madibeng municipality's fire engines, the one able to fight fires from above, was out of order because there was no money to repair it.

Municipal spokesman Lebogang Tsogang denied that the equipment was defective.

Freedom Front Plus city council member in Madibeng, Elsa Lourens, said the extensive damage could have been prevented if the fire brigade had its material in proper working order.