Fire ravages Marshall House building in Joburg

Johannesburg Emergency Services (EMS) has responded to a fire at Marshall House building in Maboneng, Johannesburg.

It is understood the building was engulfed by flames on Tuesday afternoon.

Reports suggest the building was housing homeless people.

Joburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the cause of the blaze will be investigated.

“At this stage, we’ve got two fire engines and a water tanker responding to that fire incident. We can report that there are no injuries reported so far and the cause of the fire is subject to investigations.”

Evacuations

Mulaudzi said the fire was on the fourth floor of the building.

“The fire has been stopped and all the affected people have been evacuated. The first, second and third stories were not affected and only the fourth floor was affected by the incident. 

“We have activated the relevant departments like disaster management and other city stakeholders to start facilitating the relief for affected people who have been evacuated from the building,” Mulaudzi said.

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Shack fires

The blaze comes hours after a 26-year-old man died in a shack fire in Soweto.

Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded to the fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning at around 3am in Doornkop.

Mulaudzi said firefighter made the grim discovery while searching through the rubble.

“During the search-and-rescue operation, firefighters recovered a body of a 26-year-old man. He succumbed to smoke inhalation and was confirmed dead on scene. No other injuries were reported during this incident and the cause of the fire incident is still a subject of investigations.”

Precautions

Mulaudzi urged residents, especially those in informal settlements, to take precautions when using heating appliances.

“The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services have already recorded a number of fire incidents this winter were lives were lost. Residents are encouraged to continue to look after all heating devices while in use, and not to leave them unattended, so that we can prevent fire incidents at home,” he said.

ALSO READ: Joburg shack fires claims four lives, including that of a child