Molefe Seeletsa

Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa

Digital Journalist


WATCH: No injuries reported as fire breaks out in Hillbrow building

There has been frequent fire cases in Johannesburg in recent times.


No casualties or injuries have been reported so far after another fire broke out at a building in the inner city of Johannesburg.

The authorities were alerted to the blaze on the corner of Van Der Merwe and Klein streets in Hillbrow on Saturday afternoon.

ALSO READ: Joburg’s fire epidemic: Politics fanning the flames?

Fortunately, no person was hurt in the incident.

“Firefighters are currently responding to a Flat on fire in Hillbrow. No injuries reported at this stage the cause of the fire incident is still a subject of investigations,” City of Johannesburg emergency management services (EMS) spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi said in a tweet.

There has been frequent fire cases in Johannesburg in recent times.

Wednesday’s fire incident at the South African Revenue Service (Sars) building in the city made it four big fires in the past month.

Sars employees had to be evacuated from the building when the blaze broke out at the basement level, which was used as storage.

Marshalltown fire

The most devastating incident came in August, where 77 people were left dead and many injured while other homeless after the Usindiso Building was gutted by fire.

A commission of inquiry into what caused the Marshalltown blaze has since been established.

According to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, the inquiry was established to avoid political interference in the investigation of the disaster.

Another fire was reported just two blocks away from the Usindiso Building less than two weeks later.

The fire broke out on the first floor of a three-storey building in which residents had set up shacks. The building was suspected to have been hijacked.

Meanwhile, two young children – aged five and seven – locked in an apartment were burnt beyond recognition in June.

The fire had broken out at the Florence Nightingale flats in Hillbrow.

NOW READ: ‘We need an independent probe into Marshalltown fire’ – Lesufi