A huge building in the Cape Town CBD caught fire on Sunday evening, causing residents to be evacuated and leaving one man with third-degree burns.
Cape Town Central Fire Station responded to the burning block of flats in Commercial Street at around 9:50pm. Upon arriving at the scene, additional resources were requested.
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City’s Fire and Rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said, ‘We had crews from Roeland Street, Salt River, Sea Point, Brooklyn, Goodwood, Milnerton and Constantia with a total of 12 fire appliances, including specialised vehicles and 40 firefighters.’
The man who sustained third-degree burns was transported to hospital for treatment while residents in the affected area were evacuated.
Carelse reported that the building sustained ‘major damages’ to the ground floor, with the first and second floors gutted. He added that one flat was severely damaged and another partially damaged.
Fire department arrived quickly it seems to be under control everyone seems safe. Next to the square building fire Cape town pic.twitter.com/c3RrHxTBVp
— Mr. (@donnierisk) August 27, 2023
‘An Incident Management Team was activated to assist in mitigating the event, and electricity to the building was isolated to prevent firefighters from being electrocuted,’ said Carelse.
The fire was extinguished at 12:45am.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined and is under investigation.
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Picture: screenshot from video / Twitter