No fatalities and injuries after three shacks burn in Zamimpilo
The cause of the fire is unknown.
There are about 189 informal settlements in the City of Johannesburg, and with the cold weather drawing in early, there are fires which occur in the camps every year because many in winter just want to keep warm.
On March 23, at 1.50 am, the City of Joburg’s Emergency Management Services (EMS) responded to a call in the informal settlement of Zamimpilo where according to Nana Radebe of EMS, three shacks were on fire.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Ward Councillor Basil Douglas was not in the province at the time but stated that he sent disaster management to the informal settlement to assist the residents.
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Fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. EMS released a statement last year to educate residents on how to prevent fires. Robert Mulaudzi, the spokesperson for EMS stated that it is possible to prevent homes from fires if residents refrain from leaving young children unattended at home and for people to also use proper cooking, heating, and lighting appliances and know how to identify the risks in their households and remove them.
These fires are mostly caused by the following:
1. Lighting and heating appliances that are not regulated by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) and in most cases they explode and start fires.
2. Candles that are not placed on proper candle safety jars to prevent them from falling.
3. Using open fire for cooking in a confined space with highly flammable materials, for example, Imbaula (braziers) which are also causes of death when people inhale its toxic smoke.
4. Illegal connections of electricity which also has a bad consequence for young children in those areas with electrocution.
5. The most recent causes which are difficult for the city to deal with are the fires started by love triangles were couples fight and deliberately set the whole settlement on fire.
With regards to the families in Zamimpilo, Douglas said, “The MMC of Housing was there to assist residents on March 25. He shall be looking for other assistance but disaster management in collaboration with social development deals with these issues.”
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