A fire displaced hundreds of residents and causing extensive damage to informal structures in Phillipi. Picture: Supplied/City of Cape Town
A destructive fire ravaged parts of Philippi earlier on Sunday morning, displacing hundreds of residents and causing extensive damage to informal structures.
Despite the scale of the incident, authorities report no injuries or fatalities.
Spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service, Jermaine Carelse confirmed that the emergency response was initiated around 02:45am when reports of informal structures ablaze in Mvubu Road, Philippi, flooded in.
"We deployed a total of 13 firefighting resources, with over 40 firefighters battling the blaze, aggravated by fierce winds," Carelse stated.
Efforts to contain and extinguish the fire persisted through the early hours, with firefighters finally containing and extinguishing the fire at 08:40am.
While they managed to extinguish it, the City reported that more than 100 informal structures were destroyed, leaving over 400 individuals displaced from their homes.
"The cause of the fire is yet to be determined and Law Enforcement was deployed to ensure crowd control," Carelse commented, underlining the ongoing investigation into the incident.
Simultaneously, humanitarian aid organizations sprang into action.
Gift of the Givers, an NGO renowned for their disaster relief efforts, is currently on-site at the Mangaung informal settlement in Philippi East, where a significant number of structures were destroyed by the fire.
"Our initial assessments indicate close to 250 structures have been burnt out," reported representatives from Gift of the Givers.
"Our teams, in collaboration with the City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management Teams, are actively engaged in conducting further assessments and providing immediate assistance to those affected."
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