Man killed in Cape Town fire, building in eco village destroyed in another

One person has died in one of two separate fires that broke out in Cape Town on Friday morning.

Fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said the man’s body was found in an informal structure that had caught fire on premises in Marcia Street, Tafelsig, in the early hours of the morning.

Another man was pulled to safety earlier and taken to hospital for treatment for injuries sustained in the blaze in the Mitchells Plain area.

“The fire was extinguished at 03:36 and the scene was handed over to the South African Police Service,” said Carelse.

A vehicle had also caught fire in that blaze.

Hours later, firefighters were called to put out a fire at the Oude Moulen Eco Village near the Pinelands train station and the Vincent Pallotti Hospital.

Alexandra Road had to be closed in both directions between Raapenberg Road and Perseverance Street due to very thick smoke.

Carelse said several structures had burnt down, but the cause was not known yet.

The vast village consists of old hospital property that was repurposed for a wide range of micro-enterprises, which includes tourist accommodation, pop-up shops, and vegetable gardens.

Comment from Oude Moulen’s management on how operations would be affected was not immediately available.

Firefighters have been busy this week, with a derelict building burning in Josephine Road, Claremont.

In October, 51 new firefighters graduated from their rigorous training, in time for the busy summer fire season.

At the time, the city’s Safety MMC JP Smith said the Fire and Rescue Service had noted a near 9% increase in vegetation fires year-on-year, between 2018 and 2019.

This, in turn, increased the overall number of fires that firefighters responded to – with just over 70% of all fires responded to being vegetation fires.

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