fire Archives - Voice of the Cape

90 Kayamandi residents homeless after New Year’s Eve blaze

A fire destroyed approximately 20 shacks in the Kayamandi informal settlement in Stellenbosch on New Year’s morning, leaving around 90 people, including infants, homeless. The blaze broke out just before midnight, and firefighters battled it for nearly two hours. Residents are now relying on aid from the Gift of the Givers Foundation and the Stellenbosch municipality, especially for school uniforms and stationery lost in the fire. Gift of the Givers […]

2 January 2025

Local

Cape Town Fire and Rescue responds to almost 500 fires since May

By Lee-Yandra Paulsen Since the start of May, the City of Cape Town's Fire and Rescue Department has responded to almost 500 fire-related incidents. Speaking on VOC Breakfast on Monday morning, Fire and Rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said his department has been inundated with reports of both formal and informal fires. “We have seen an uptick in fire-related reports in the past month. We’ve responded to about 255 informal structure […]

24 June 2024

Local

Two fires in Cape Town claim six lives

Six people died in two separate fires in Cape Town on Friday night. City of Cape Town spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said four people died in Bonteheuwel and four others sustained varying degrees of burn wounds when a fire broke out at a house in Vyeboom Street. “The city’s fire & rescue service was alerted to the incident by CCTV operators at about 2am. “Crews from Epping who were first on […]

14 April 2024

Local

Storage facility ablaze in Beaconvale

By Lee-Yandra Paulsen Earlier today, the Fire and Rescue Service of the City of Cape Town received a call regarding a grass fire outside an abandoned building on Connaught Road in Beaconvale. Upon arrival, firefighters discovered a storage facility on fire, which was emitting thick black smoke. The City’s Fire and Rescue spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, stated that containers and load bins containing various materials were on fire. Firefighting crews from […]

13 March 2024

News

Three killed in Fasantekraal blaze

by Loushe Jordaan Gilbert The City of Cape Town has confirmed that three people died in a fire related incident in the early hours of Monday morning. The City’s Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said six informal structures were destroyed, leaving several destitute in Fisantekraal. “At approximately 00h50 an emergency call was received of a structure alight in Saartjie Baartman Street. Crews from Durbanville, Kraaifontein and Atlantis were […]

12 February 2024

Local

City of Cape Town expresses shock as firefighters get shot at

The City of Cape Town says it was shocked after firefighters were shot at in two separate incidents this week. Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith says they responded to a structural fire at Uitsig where they were also stoned. He says a crew also came under attack at Greenville in Kraaifontein. Smith says the firefighters escaped injury but damage was caused to firefighting vehicles which can […]

7 October 2023

International

Iraq wedding fire caused by ‘gross negligence’, government investigation says

A fire that swept through a crowded wedding hall in a northern Iraqi town killing more than 100 people was blamed on “gross negligence” and lack of safety measures, the results of a government investigation into the disaster said, Reuters reports. The investigation results, announced at a news conference on Sunday by interior minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, said the owner of the hall and three other staff members had allowed 900 people […]

2 October 2023

Local

Lesufi to institute Committee of Inquiry into Joburg CBD building fire

The Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says he plans to institute a Committee of Inquiry into the cause of the fire at a building in the Johannesburg CBD. More than 70 including 12 children were killed in the fire. The fire broke out in the hijacked five-storey building in Marshalltown on Thursday morning. Lesufi says the inquiry will also look into the prevalence of hijacked buildings in the City and who must […]

1 September 2023

Local

New Woodlands, Mitchells Plain residents left traumatised after a family of four die in their home

By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert Residents in New Woodlands Mitchell’s Plain are reeling from shock after four people tragically died in their home on Sunday evening. New Woodlands Mitchells Plain Neighbourhood Watch Chairperson Shahiem Van Nelson said the community were all still trying to deal with the shock, however they believe that the family died of smoke inhalation. “We believe that they had a housewarming braai on Sunday and took the […]

31 July 2023

fire

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