A 63-year-old woman perished in her flat on Tuesday morning after she allegedly set herself and her flat alight.
The incident occurred at Lake Point flats situated in Attwell Street, Denlee.
“Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) responded to the scene at about 8.50am and when they arrived they found the flat well alight,” said William Ntladi, district manager media liaison for DEMS.
“From information received, a cleaner saw smoke coming from the woman’s flat.
“She notified the caretaker and when they tried to speak to the woman, she refused to open the door.
“The deceased allegedly made a lot of depressive utterances prior to setting herself alight.”
Ntladi added that she was alone in the flat at the time of the incident.
“When the fire started, there were about 30 to 40 residents in their own flats and they had to be evacuated,” he said.
“In total, about 298 people stay in the block of flats.”
Firefighters from Germiston Central Fire Station, backed-up by teams from the Wadeville and Boksburg fire stations, attended the scene.
“They also brought in a special fire engine equipped with a ladder platform to assist because the fire was on the eighth floor,” Ntladi said.
Ntaldi added that the building had suffered minimal structural damage as the fire was contained and extinguished very quickly.
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The scene was handed over to the Germiston SAPS for investigation and they have opened an inquest docket into the matter.
Members of the Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF also responded quickly to the scene.
After receiving a call, patrollers arrived to assist.
Lourens Botha, a patroller for the Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF, was one of the first respondents on the scene.
“We tried to use fire extinguishers to put out the fire, as well as the fire hose reels mounted on each floor, but the one on the eight floor was not working, so we had to use the seventh floor one.
“The fire department arrived just five minutes after I got to the scene.
“They were brilliant and put the fire out quickly.”
Stuart Lindsay, a resident in the area, also responded quickly when he heard about the fire and helped to try and extinguish it.
“We couldn’t break down the door so we assisted the fire department as best we could when they arrived,” he said.
Pine Pienaar, the vice-chairman of the Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF, told the GCN the fire department must be commended for their swift reaction.
“They arrived promptly and got the fire under control quickly,” he said.
Pienaar added that the CPF will be organising an emergency meeting with all residents in high rise flats in the area to discuss plans of action for when a fire breaks out.
He also encouraged community members to join the CPF so that there are more eyes and ears on the alert in the community.
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