By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A suspect has been arrested for arson in connection with the fire that broke out at a hijacked building in the central business district (CBD) of Johannesburg.
The fire left two people dead and four were injured, search and rescue operations were still underway.
Johannesburg Emergency Services (EMS) spokesperson Xolile Khumalo said they received a call about the fire in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“Two people jumped from the second floor, and three people were rescued from the balcony. Two people were found dead as search and rescue operations continue at the building fire. Four people have been transported to health care facilities for further medical care.”
“The fire operation continues at the two-storey building that was engulfed with flames earlier this morning. The fire spread very quickly, affecting different levels of the building because of the combustible materials used, “Khumalo said.
An investigation into the cause of the fire will be undertaken once firefighting operations have been completed.
City of Johannesburg manager Floyd Brink said an unidentified woman was apprehended and was now in the possession of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“It does seem at this point the fire was started by a specific person… it’s a female. We have handed over [her] to Saps [and] we are now waiting for the investigations to unfold,” he said on Sunday.
Brink said the metropolitan municipality’s own forensic team was deployed to inspect the building.
It’s now really up to Saps to be able to indicate to us exactly from that side in terms of the fire. But what we can indicate to you is that it took about 10 minutes or so for out teams to be on site in order for them to start extinguishing the fire, “the city manager continued.
He revealed that the blaze was picked up by the city’s camera systems.
“We [did not] receive any calls from anyone so through our own systems we have managed to detect [the fire] and that’s how we then deployed our teams with our fire engines.”
Brink also confirmed that the building was hijacked.
In September last year, at least 77 people died in the hijacked Usindiso building, located on the corner of Albert and Delvers streets in Marshalltown in what has been described as one of the worst tragedies to have hit Gauteng’s economic hub.
An inquiry to determine responsibility for that blaze is ongoing, but the incident highlighted a longstanding housing crisis that has seen some buildings in the inner city of Johannesburg occupied illegally.