VANDERBIJLPARK – A blaze tore through three units of flats at Protea Tuine complex in SW1, in Vanderbijlpark on Thursday, February 07, leaving residents and several fire crews battling the blaze.

This comes after an alleged electricity fault, sparking a fire and spreading to the other two units.

Whilst residents came out in their numbers to try and extinguish the raging blaze, the inferno continued to spread.

Several role players including firefighters from Emfuleni Local Municipality Fire and Rescue, ER24, Sekuriteit, Afriforum, among many others responded to the incident.

After half an hour of smoke billowed in the sky, the combined effort from all role players saw the fire dying out.

Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Clinton Simons an eyewitness said he was washing dishes when he saw smoke coming from the middle unit adjacent to his.

“When I saw a small amount of smoke coming from one of the three units, I knew something was wrong. I quickly dressed up and went to investigate where the fire was coming from,” he said.

“I screamed for help from other residents as the flames were growing and spreading in the house. Together with Jay-Jay, we tried to extinguish the unit using our small fire extinguishers until they went out. Several other residents came out with their hose and tried to help, but the fire blew out of control,” he added.

Simons said residents tried to stopthe raging flames with small fire extinguishers but fail to completely put out the flames.

One of the cleaning ladies who asked not to said they alerted some of the neighbours whose units were affected before they caught fire.

“The fire started from the main bedroom situated on the upper floor of the middle unit. I believe it grew much stronger because of the roof hence everyone who tried to stop the fire failed to do so. We alerted the other neighbour who was not in the complex, who came and rescued some of her belongings,” she said.

ELM couldn’t be reached for comment.