About 450 people were displaced by one of two devastating overnight fires that swept through Langa in Cape Town.
Fire and rescue service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said several calls were received after 8.15pm on Thursday about informal structures alight off Winnie Mandela Street.
“Fire crews from several stations were activated and about 19 frontline fire resources and a total of 80 staff were at the scene, including the incident management team,” he said.
“The fire area was divided into three to maximise the resources at the scene and mitigate further damage.”
The blaze was extinguished at 2.30am on Friday. Initial estimates were that 150 structures were destroyed and 450 people displaced. The city’s disaster risk management centre said an assessment was being done to ascertain the exact number of people affected.
Gift of the Givers project manager Ali Sablay said their teams were on site at a fire in Joe Slovo informal settlement.
“We [distributed] energy drinks to the firefighters and [engaged] with our feeding centres in the community for breakfast [on Friday morning]. We loaded our trucks for full-scale humanitarian distribution on Friday,” said Sablay.
Hundreds of people have been displaced by fires in informal settlements across the city over the past week.
TimesLIVE
Hundreds displaced by fire in Langa
Image: Gift of the Givers
About 450 people were displaced by one of two devastating overnight fires that swept through Langa in Cape Town.
Fire and rescue service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said several calls were received after 8.15pm on Thursday about informal structures alight off Winnie Mandela Street.
“Fire crews from several stations were activated and about 19 frontline fire resources and a total of 80 staff were at the scene, including the incident management team,” he said.
“The fire area was divided into three to maximise the resources at the scene and mitigate further damage.”
The blaze was extinguished at 2.30am on Friday. Initial estimates were that 150 structures were destroyed and 450 people displaced. The city’s disaster risk management centre said an assessment was being done to ascertain the exact number of people affected.
Gift of the Givers project manager Ali Sablay said their teams were on site at a fire in Joe Slovo informal settlement.
“We [distributed] energy drinks to the firefighters and [engaged] with our feeding centres in the community for breakfast [on Friday morning]. We loaded our trucks for full-scale humanitarian distribution on Friday,” said Sablay.
Hundreds of people have been displaced by fires in informal settlements across the city over the past week.
TimesLIVE
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