Cape Town - A fire razed the homes of 30 families in the Barcelona informal settlement after a child allegedly threw a firecracker at an old mattress.
Residents said the children were playing near a shack where the fire started at about 2pm in Gugulethu.
One resident said: “I wasn’t around when the kids were playing with the crackers, I wasn’t around when the fire started.
“One child who is pointed out as the main culprit is about 4 years old, even though we know there may have been older kids with him. There is nothing that we can do because they were just playing and we have no choice but to restart our lives.
“The sad thing is that the City doesn’t provide building material any more. We have to find our own way of rebuilding our homes. We have temporarily moved in with our relatives while we wait for donations.
“We have gone to Sassa for IDs and vouchers but were told that they have closed and might open next week.”
Community leader Nono Ngondo said she found out about the fire while she was sleeping.
“I arrived at the scene and at the time only one shack was alight. We called the fire department. It then spread to other shacks, and a lot of people have been displaced and some have nowhere to go.
“The disaster management team arrived and donated sponge mattresses and blankets, though people are grateful for that, but it is not enough, the fire victims need to rebuild their homes and we don’t know how they are going to do that.”
She added that they are going to visit spaza shops who sell firecrackers to children.
“We are going to have a meeting with them because they were not supposed to sell these things to children, especially 4-year-old children.”
Jermaine Carelse, the City’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, said the emergency call was received at 2.10pm of structures alight in Barcelona informal settlement, on Tuesday.
“Crews from Landsdowne, Mitchells Plain and Kuils River were on scene. Crews managed to extinguish the fire by 4,30pm which destroyed approximately 30 structures and left 100 persons displaced. The cause of the fire is unknown and no injuries or fatalities were reported.”
