No injuries after fire breaks out at Joburg building

Johannesburg Emergency Services (EMS) have responded to yet another fire at a building in Berea in the Joburg CBD.

It is understood the fire broke out at the Sands building on Tuesday afternoon.

Joburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the blaze has since been extinguished.

No injuries

“City of Joburg EMS firefighters are attending to a building on fire in Berea. All the residents … have been safely evacuated.

“The fire was mainly on the fourth and fifth floor and firefighters have managed to extinguish it. At this stage, we will be letting in our investigating team to [find out] what might be the cause of the fire incident,” said Mulaudzi, adding no injuries were reported.  

The blaze comes less than a month after a fire broke out on Market Street and Von Wielligh Street. A one-bedroom flat had caught fire, but the residents were able to extinguish the blaze.

ALSO READ: Tensions run high in dispute over relocation of Joburg CBD fire victims

Serial fires

There have been a series of fires in the Johannesburg CBD area ever since a horror inferno engulfed Usindiso Building leaving 77 people dead, many injured and homeless.

A commission of inquiry into what caused the fire has since been established.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the inquiry was established to avoid political interference in the investigation of the disaster.

Meanwhile, tensions ran high last week in a dispute over the relocation of Joburg fire victims to Kibler Park, south of the city.

The fire broke out at what was believed to be a hijacked building on Delver Street in Marshalltown last month. No person was injured and all those living inside the three-storey building in the city centre were safely evacuated.

A resident told The Citizen at the time there were about 1,000 living in the building.

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