More than 100 families have been left destitute after a fire ravaged through an informal settlement in Cinderella Park near Eastwood early on Friday morning.

The blaze, which started in the early hours of the morning, quickly spread engulfing homes as residents dashed to safety grabbing as many of their valuables as they could.

When Weekend Witness visited the site this morning, residents of Malivan – a densely populated informal settlement – were rummaging through the smouldering remains, braving the scorching heatwave, searching for belongings to salvage.

It’s the second fire this year at the settlement but fortunately, residents managed to escape unharmed from Friday’s blaze.

However, among the many homeless are families with young children, some of them newborn babies, now desperate for any help from the city, aid organisations and other residents.

The Gift of the Givers and the River of Life Church were some of the first of several organisations to step in with humanitarian aid, according to ward councillor Roy Ram.

He said the city’s disaster management unit was on the scene arranging and co-ordinating relief efforts.

At this stage the cause of the fire is unknown and the city’s fire department and police are investigating.

“So far we can only estimate that 120 shacks have been burnt to the ground and at least 30 children between the ages of one and 14, as well as pensioners who have lost their ID documents, are amongst those residents who are now destitute,” says Ram.

Many of the residents have lost personal documents, such as Sassa cards, passports and banking cards.

Urgent aid is now needed to support the families who had to flee the fire.

Nosipho Dlamini, who has been living in the area for seven years with her family of four, says they are lucky to have escaped alive.

“All I can recall was feeling immense heat while sleeping and then I heard people shouting… We quickly gathered and fled the house managing to grab some clothes and ID documents.”

Friday was supposed to have been a happy day for her 11-year-old son, who was excited to attend a farewell party at his school. Instead, he was left in tears, grappling with the tragedy that had befallen the family.

Florence Buthelezi, a pensioner who shares her home with six family members, says she managed to save the children and some of their identification documents.

“We have nowhere to go now and it’s blistering hot. All we have are the clothes on our bodies,” she says.

Describing the terror of the fire, Noliwzi Mxatyelwa, who is a single mom of a four-year-old, says she heard screams and then had to flee.

“I heard loud screams while I was asleep and then all of a sudden I heard someone banging on the door with someone shouting ‘get up, there’s a fire’,” says Mxatyelwa.

As she opened the door she saw flames engulfing neighbouring homes and only had time to grab her child and run.

She says when she came out and saw the fire and how huge it was she realised that she didn’t have much time to grab her child.

“I immediately got my baby and left. I had to report for work this morning but I have no house, no money and no food for me and my child. All I have are these clothes on my back.”

Makhunong Selahla, who has lived with his wife at the settlement for 21 years, says they tried desperately to save their home but to no avail.

“This is the first time my home has burnt. We did everything we could to try and stop the fire but we failed and everything we owned is now destroyed,” he says.

In another household, a father had to grab his two children aged nine and 14, fleeing without managing to salvage any of their belongings.

Florina Jiba says her husband was at home with the children when the fire broke out.

“Our main concern is the way forward, as many people have lost everything. We are all gathered to hear what the councillor can do for us now.”

Ram says the community desperately needs as much help as possible.

“We are also waiting for other stakeholders to come on board to help all of those who are in desperate need of assistance,” he adds.