Cape Town - Dunoon residents face a bleak Christmas after their homes were razed in a fire.
It is suspected the blaze happened due to illegally connected electric wires floating atop the shacks, leaving at least 20 homes in Ezulwini informal settlement gutted around 9pm on Wednesday.
The City’s Fire and Rescue spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said more than 40 firefighters were on scene to mitigate the damages as the fire was fanned by a strong wind.
“By 11pm, the blaze was brought under control and extinguished which razed several structures and left many persons displaced.
“Assessments are still continuing.
“Some of the community members at one stage took away the hoses of the firefighters, but firefighters managed to take control of the situation.
“One adult male was treated and transported to a nearby hospital.”
Linamandla Gudla, 20, was injured trying to extinguish the fire.
“I had come out of the toilet and saw the flames. I wanted to keep the fire contained on the other side of our home, next door, so I went to get water to throw at the fire, and that is when my arm burnt.
“I was taken to hospital and they dressed the wounds.”
Resident Phathiswa Nozakuzaku said her neighbour came out of his shack and told them there was fire.
“He said it started there, but when we got there, there weren't many flames.
“He had already taken out some of his belongings.
“When we checked the roof of the shack next to his, we saw that there were big flames and we saw that the cause was the wires because no one was cooking at the time.
“We don’t have electricity in this area.”
She said she couldn’t salvage anything, as everything she bought for her mother and children in the Eastern Cape burned.
The Gift of the Givers team was on the ground giving out supplies to the victims on Thursday.
Project manager, Ali Sablay, said it has been a busy 48 hours for their team.
“We were activated in Chester Williams informal settlement in Paarl East on Tuesday and on Wednesday our teams received a call from Electricity City in Mfuleni, hours later were informed of the fire in Ezulwini.
“We are assisting the families with hot meals, blankets, personal hygiene packs, mattresses and we will be on site at all three five fires for the next three to five days.
“We are on standby for any disasters that will occur over the festive period. We urge community members, especially those living in informal settlements, to be responsible, as we have seen negligence occurring in those areas.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za