TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY PEOPLE AFFECTED AFTER 45 SHACKS WERE GUTTED BY FIRE IN PLASTICVIEW INFORMAL SETTLEMENT EAST OF PRETORIA.
City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department responded to a fire incident involving 45 shacks at Plasticview informal settlement on Saturday 04 November 2023. One (1) patient was treated and transported for smoke inhalation and moderate injuries and three (3) were treated for minor injuries on the scene but refused transport to a medical facility. Two hundred and fifty (250) people lost shelter and personal belongings because of the fire.
Emergency services responded to the scene after 04:33 and arrived on the scene to find multiple shacks on fire and immediately started with firefighting operations while protecting scores of unburnt shacks from being affected. The fire was contained and subsequently extinguished.
The Tshwane Emergency Services Department will intensify public awareness campaigns at this informal settlement as part of continuous education to the communities on fire safety and disaster risk reduction. The department calls on residents to use paraffin stoves with extreme caution, never leave open fires without adult supervision or unattended, never to overload electrical plugs with appliances. Illegal connections of electricity are a fire and life hazard which residents should always be aware that it might lead to emergency incidents.
Tshwane Emergency Services Department Disaster Management, together with the city’s Community and Social Development Department are coordinating relief efforts for the affected. The National and Provicial Departments of human Settlement have been notified of the incident.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
For fire and rescue incident dial 107, toll free and dial 112 for ambulance services.
ISSUED BY THE TSHWANE EMERGENCY SERVICE
