About 4 000 people were left homeless and 800 shacks destroyed as a fire ripped through the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa early on Thursday.
Firefighters took about two hours to bring the blaze in Zone 30 under control.
There were no reported injuries to residents, but a fireman was taken to hospital with a back injury after desperate residents, wanting him to help, dragged him from the top of his fire truck.
The fire broke out at 1.45am
The blaze comes almost exactly a year since a huge fire devastated Joe Slovo, razing 4 000 homes and leaving 12 000 people destitute.
Earlier this week the Cape Argus reported that the large number of devastating fires in informal settlements has forced an increase of almost R5-million in the Western Cape department of social services budget for disasters for this financial year.
And a statement by the City of Cape Town revealed that there were nearly 2 000 fires in informal settlements last year, leaving about 28 000 people homeless.
When the Joe Slovo fire broke out at about 1.45am, 16 fire engines were dispatched and the Disaster Risk Management Centre sent emergency response teams to assist and provide medical care, crowd control and law enforcement.
Fire crews rushed from as far afield as Strand, Milnerton, Sea Point and Ottery.
The cause of the fire is still unknown
This morning they were still damping down hotspots.
Firefighting crews had to abandon a mountain fire in Red Hill above Simon's Town to assist in Joe Slovo.
Electricity supply to the Joe Slovo area was disconnected to prevent explosions and further spread of the fire.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but victims gathering their belongings early on Thursday blamed drunken shack dwellers who try to prepare food or leave candles burning late at night.
Wilfred Solomons, disaster risk management co-ordinator, said the fire had been fanned by a strong south-easter. He said blankets, clothing and meals would continue to be provided for the next three days until the homeless were resettled.
The Langa Civic Centre has been put on standby to accommodate the victims.
This morning the city's human settlement services started registering those affected by the blaze.
The Disaster Risk Management Centre has arranged for recovery and clearing of the site.
Frequent fires have exhausted provincial funds for disasters. Last week alone, 95 shacks burnt down in Masiphumelele, leaving 120 families homeless. More than 300 shacks were razed in Khayelitsha.
On Tuesday one person died in a fire in an informal settlement in Kuils River that destroyed about one hundred dwellings.
The head of social services and poverty alleviation, Virginia Petersen, said the department had originally earmarked slightly more than R7-million for disasters but had already spent R12-million.
Early on Thursday, despondent Joe Slovo residents were sifting through the debris for belongings.
Bongani Msindo, who has endured three big fires in the settlement, said: "We live here expecting huge fires. It has become a way of life."
He sat on a heap of belongings he had saved before fire engulfed his home.
Nosipho Bulabula, who ran the Little Flower Daycare facility, where she looked after 45 children while their parents worked, said she had lost everything.
"I'm devastated - my children have nowhere to go, their parents can't go to work and earn money," she said.
Simphiwe Xako, spokesperson for the Western Cape MEC for social services, Koleka Mqulwana, said residents left destitute would be given blankets and food, temporary shelter and counseling. - Cape Argus
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