Massive shack fire leaves 600 homeless

Six hundred people have been left homeless after a massive shack fire in Masiphumelele, an informal settlement near Fish Hoek, razed 150 shacks early on Sunday morning.

This as rescue vehicles had to be sourced from as far afield as Cape Town, as the nearest fire station, at Fish Hoek, was closed because it was "short staffed".

Earlier this year, the Cape Times reported that Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi had warned that only half of the Western Cape's 30 municipalities would be ready for this year's fire season, and most would have to cope with outdated equipment and massive staff shortages.

In 2005, the Provincial Disaster Management Centre identified 11 high-risk communities, including Masiphumelele, Doornbach, Khayelitsha, Khayamnandi and De Doorns.

And last weekend provincial firefighters battled about 400 fires in less than 72 hours.

Senior operator Pieter Smit said 150 shacks had been destroyed in the fire, which started about 2.30am on Sunday morning. Emergency vehicles, including five pumps, fought the blaze. Neither Smit nor the city's disaster management unit could confirm the cause of the fire, but Smit believed a "candle, a primer stove or someone smoking in bed" could have ignited the blaze. He said no injuries or fatalities had been reported.

Smit said Fish Hoek was a "one pump station" and legally, a set number of people were required to man a pump. If enough people were not available to do this, he said, they could not respond to a fire.

The city's chief fire officer, Ian Schnetler, said he would "investigate" the matter. Those left homeless by the blaze were being temporarily housed in a community hall. - Cape Times