Counting the cost of fire: more than 70 lives and R500m in three months

Fire has killed more than 70 people and caused more than R500 million in property damage across Cape Town from July to September, says the City’s fire chief.

And 194 fires were reported for the same period across Sub-council 2, which includes the Cilmor industrial area in the west, Bloekombos and Wallacedene in the east, Kuils River in the south and Haasendal smallholdings in the north, according to a report presented by fire chief Ian Schnetler, at the Sub-council 2 meeting last week.

According to the report, City firefighters responded to 5069 incidents from July to September, down 15% from 5835.

There were fires involving shacks, formal houses, vehicles and commercial buildings among others, and 43 of the fire-related deaths happened in informal settlements.

Zingisani Moepa, secretary of Kraaifontein Development Forum, called for innovative steps to prevent fires in informal settlements.

Heat-detection technology in informal settlements was not effective as fire services still found it hard to get into the densely crowded areas, he said.

As a short-term solution, water tanks with hoses should be set up in informal settlements and the City should train the residents to fight fires, he said.

“The long-lasting solution that the City must resort to is to identify a piece of land and engage with developers and investors and get that land developed for residential and commercial purposes so that people do not resist to go there,” he said.

Siphiwo Saki, a father of three, from Bloekombos, said his shack burnt down with all his belongings in 2020 and last year his sister died in a shack fire with her boyfriend.

"It was a difficult time as we spent the money during December and we had to start from scratch and to buy uniforms and school bags for children,“ he said. “Life changes and puts you in a difficult position unexpectedly as you need to cover the costs.”

Kuils River community activist Ernest Williams said several wendy houses were destroyed and two houses damaged during a fire in Wesbank in July.

“There are a lot of incidents that happened during this year. The big one is where three infants and one dad died in July. It was very painful. I was assisting the families,” he said.

Janine Johnson, one of the victims of the Wesbank fire, said she was struggling to pay back the loan she borrowed to rebuild her home.

“Every month the money gets deducted from my salary and as a cleaner we get a little money and need to buy school materials for children next year. Please reach out to our families. It was nine families that were affected in the fire,” she said.