A fire tore through approximately one hundred shacks at the Slovo Park informal settlement in Johannesburg this evening, leaving one man seriously injured. At the time of release it is unclear as to whether anyone had been killed in the blaze. The cause of the fire and the series of events leading up to it remain unclear and will form the subject of a South African Police Force investigation.
All indications are that the fire started in a shack near the middle of the settlement, which spans a complete city block. The shacks are densely packed, so much so that residents are able to traverse the block by running across the roofs.
Netcare911 Paramedics arrived at the scene to find several shacks had been engulfed by flames which sent a tower of smoke into the sky. Shack dwellers frantically ran to and from their homes, ferrying their belongings and all they could carry to the perimeter of the settlement. City of Johannesburg Firefighters set about extinguishing the blaze while paramedics established a medical command point to tend to the injured.
One man had sustained burns to his arms and was in a serious condition. It is thought that he had been trying to save some of his belongings as his shack was consumed by the blaze. He was treated and stabilised at the scene before he was transported by ambulance to the Helen Joseph Hospital for the urgent care that he required.
A nearby church and high school opened their doors to house those left destitute by the fire.
