Winter is here and since Easter there has been an epidemic of shack fires, with a number of deaths, across the country.
Who put the fire out in the KwaZulu Natal Emergency Services?
Durban : South Africa | Apr 28, 2011
By Brigid Jean Primrose
23 April 2011, a fire broke out at the informal settlement at Sharkashead, Ballito, north of Durban in the province of KwaZulu Natal.
One man who was reported as being seen earlier in the day drinking alcohol burned in one of the shacks. The ambulance took 1 1/2 hours to get to the scene and attend to him. Another victim was trapped and his body later found in the remains of a shack
Two fire firefighting trucks responded to the emergency, however neither had the correct equipment to fight the fires.
What is happening in South Africa when it is taking so long for emergency services to respond to calls? Is there a grave shortage of ambulances that incoming emergency call are queued up to take their turn in the line?
As for under-equiped firefighting trucks or fire engines, why are the local authorities such as the municipalities not ensuring that these vehicles are properly fitted out to cover any emergency they happen to be called out on.
There is no other information regarding other deaths or injuries.
A videoed recording was taken of the scene that I will try to up-load and I am sure there must be photographs as well. I will just have to keep hunting and update when I can.
http://www.thenewage.co.za/16352-1016-53-Man_burnt_to_death_and_83_homeless_as_shacks_razed_in_fire
Apr 26 2011 7:13AM
Man burnt to death and 83 homeless as shacks razed in fire
Sithandiwe Velaphi
A 27-year-old man was killed and 83 people were left homeless when fire razed Skiet, an informal settlement in Butterworth on Good Friday.
Police spokesman Captain Jackson Manathat said a total of 40 shacks were destroyed at the Skiet informal settlement when the squatter camp burst into flames after the 27 year old allegedly fell asleep leaving a candle burning. Manatha said almost 83 people were left homeless.
“The 27-year-old Lunga Masiko was heard arriving by his neighbours at about midnight.
“It was observed that the man lit a candle and also his stove. It is presumed that he fell asleep and at about 2am his shack burned.”
Sindiswa Nqoloba, who started living in the area about 15 years ago and is a mother of three, said they were woken up by the raging flames.
“I was doing a rental business with about 16 shacks as I am not working. All of them have been burnt down. I do not know what will help my children to be able to go to school after this. I went to a businessman in town who lent me the clothes I am wearing now,” said Nqoloba.
Nqoloba also disclosed that she was HIV positive and had been for the past 13 years.
A resident, who only described himself as Deyi, said they suspect that the deceased was drunk.
Squatter’s community development worker Pumla Mfenyana, said the homeless community had resorted to Butterworth business people for help.
“The families were left with nothing, so we asked for food and clothes,” said Mfenyana.
Mfenyana said a funeral parlour has promised to bury the deceased Masiko.
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=64462
5 killed in shack fire
Eyewitness News | 2011/04/22 10:08:19 AM
Five people have died in a shack fire in the informal settlement of Lwandle, in Somerset West, outside Cape Town.
A blaze gutted two shacks killing an entire family, including three children in the early hours of Friday morning.
Cape Town Disaster Risk Management’s Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the cause of the accident is unknown.
In a separate incident, 15 shacks were destroyed in the township of Langa, also outside Cape Town, on Thursday night. No injuries were reported there.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/pregnant-woman-dies-in-shack-fire-1.1058013
Pregnant woman dies in shack fire
April 18 2011 at 09:50am
By Chad Cupido, Mike Kaplan, Sandiso Phaliso and Nurene Jassiem-Marcus
Three people died, 13 buildings were gutted and many hectares of farmland were scorched in fires which raged in the Cape region over the past four days.
As darkness fell on Sunday, helicopters were forced to abandon water-bombing of the wildfire in the Helderberg mountains, which had swept from Somerset West over the ridge to Stellenbosch, threatening wine farms. The fire was still burning fiercely on Sunday night, but a change of wind direction had forced it into the higher reaches, inaccessible to fire engines.
A firefighter reported that the Helderberg fire was so intense in the early hours that trees “virtually exploded in fireballs, sending flames 100m into the night sky”.
Three helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft water bombed the Helderberg fire over the weekend, while 200 firefighters fought the blaze on the ground.
A thick cloud of smoke hung over the region on Sunday, and as the wind picked up in the afternoon, the blaze ravaged the forested area above a number of wineries, including Ernie Els, Bilton House and Peter Falke.
Gustaf Berger, a firefighter for the Cape Winelands fire service, said on Sunday: “It’s not really out of control, but not in control either. To fully extinguish that fire is impossible.”
Winemakers joined firefighters with the Cape Winelands fire service to ensure that the flames stayed within the forested area. Tractors normally used to spray insecticide were instead equipped to spray water.
Schalk Westhuizen, a worker at Peter Falke Wines, said: “So far we’ve been lucky. It hasn’t taken out any of our vineyards, but we still need to hope that the wind doesn’t reach gale force.”
– Emergency services reported on Sunday they had responded to 106 fire calls over the weekend, ranging from fires in residential areas to grass fires.
– At the Redhill informal settlement above Simon’s Town, a 23-year-old pregnant woman died in a fire that broke out among the shacks on Friday night. Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said the circumstances surrounding the fire were being investigated and an inquest docket has been opened.
– The charred bodies of two adults, an unidentified man and woman, were found after firefighters had extinguished a grass fire at Eerste River on Thursday. The cause of the fire is being investigated and the authorities had no further details.
The expectant mother with days to go to full term killed in the Redhill fire was Thembisa Booi, 23, originally from Fort Beaufort near Grahamstown.
Her cousin and neighbour Bukelwa Booi said last night: “I think she must have tried to get out through a window but because of her pregnancy she could not get through.
“She was so excited about this baby that she even gave me some baby clothes and things to keep safely for her.”
The fire in Somerset West began on the Erinvale Golf Estate. Unconfirmed reports are that the fire was caused by a flare-up on Friday when high winds fanned coals left behind from a controlled burn at the golf course on Wednesday.
Ignacius Smart, head of fire and safety in the city, confirmed yesterday that the fire had started at Erinvale, but said he did not have any information as to the cause of the fire.
“We will be doing an investigation,” he said. – Cape Times
April 18 2011 at 09:50am
By Chad Cupido, Mike Kaplan, Sandiso Phaliso and Nurene Jassiem-Marcus
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=64192
W.Cape govt. springs into action after weekend fires
Malungelo Booi | 2011/04/19 08:54:43 AM
Western Cape Social Development MEC Patricia De Lille on Tuesday said they were providing trauma counselling to families affected by the fires this past weekend in Cape Town.
Damage running into millions of rand was caused to at least a dozen structures in Somerset West.
In another incident, a pregnant woman died in a shack fire at the Redhill informal settlement in Simons Town.
Other fires were reported in Goodwood and Lavender Hill
De Lille said they have to help those affected deal with their loss.
“We have dispatched social workers to do trauma counselling and also to assist them with the most basics just to rebuild their lives,” she said.
(Edited by Lisa Bartlett