A fire at an old-age home in Ekurhuleni killed one person aged 65 while six others were hospitalised after the building was engulfed by flames on Thursday morning.
The fire in Bruce and Victoria streets in Germiston was reported to the Ekurhuleni emergency medical services (EMS) at 9.32am.
Ekurhuleni EMS spokesperson William Ntladi said they arrived to find Die Anker Tehuis old-age home “well alight” and parts of the roof collapsed.
“We started evacuating the residents while the other crew worked to suppress the fire. We had been told that 51 residents were living there,” he said.
One person died of burn wounds and the other six were hospitalised because of smoke inhalation.
The remaining residents were moved to a nearby primary school for temporary accommodation.
Ntladi said the double-storey building’s upper floor was severely damaged as that is where the fire started.
“The structure is damaged as it was the top section that ws burning. However, there was a good intervention from the emergency services by cutting the fire from spreading to the rest of the building.”
We visited the SAVF De Anker Assisted Living Facility for the Elder in Germiston, where a fire broke out this morning. Sadly, one elderly person passed away, and one was hospitalized due to smoke inhalation.
— MEC Faith Mazibuko (@FaithMazibukoSA) July 11, 2024
Gauteng Social Development Social Workers were on-site. pic.twitter.com/ihg5Io4Jj9
While it took three hours for the fire to be extinguished, the team still had to do “hotspot extinguishment” to put out any potential flare up.
The cause of the fire is not yet known but is under police investigation, said Ntladi.
TimesLIVE
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