Masiphumelele fire leaves one dead, more than 400 without homes

One person has died, while about 450 were left without homes following a fire at the Masiphumelele informal settlement at Hout Bay in the Cape Peninsula, in the early hours on Monday morning.

Cape Town Fire spokesperson Jermaine Carelse told SABC News they were alerted to the fire at about 3am, adding the fire was fanned by strong winds.

“Kommetjie Road fire station crew was first on the scene and confirmed numerous informal structures burning, fanned by a strong south-easterly wind, and called for more resources to help bring it under control. A total of 18 firefighting appliances and approximately 70 firefighters from various stations are on scene. The fire was brought under control just before 5am,” Carelse told the channel on Monday.

Masiphumelele fire: 100 houses destroyed

According Ward 69 representative Jonathan Mills, the fire destroyed around 100 informal housing units in the ‘D-section’ at the bottom of Masiphumelele.

“Disaster Management is now in Masiphumelele preparing their team to come to the site to make an official list of those affected. Please stand by your plot and give all the names of everyone who lived there including children. The City list will be given to SASSA so if someone’s name isn’t on the list it will affect the relief they receive,” said Mills on Facebook.

ALSO READ: Masiphumelele residents placed in temporary structures after shack blaze

“The list will take hours to compile and may not be completed by 4pm so we ask for patience and good communication. We will also have a lot of people coming in the days ahead saying they are fire victims and we will have to verify this with community leaders from D-section (including Bulela and Wendy who work with Living Hope to do feeding in D-section).”

Gift of the Givers was also reportedly in the area providing food.

“The City teams will also be working to restore electricity to the D and F sections (the wetlands temporals) but the full extent of the damage is unclear so it might be some time,” said Hills.

Earlier this year, 105 homes were destroyed by fire in Masiphumelele, with more than 600 residents displaced, while a fire in December 2020 destroyed 1,100 homes.

READ MORE: Another Cape Town fire leaves 600 Masiphumelele residents homeless