Fire leaves 80 homeless
2003-08-08 08:34
Johannesburg - About 80 people were left homeless following a fire in downtown Johannesburg on Thursday night.
According to Malcolm Midgley, divisional commander of the city's emergency services, the first call concerning an inferno at a panel-beating workshop on the corner of Durban and Maritzburg streets, came in at 23:11.
Having rushed to the scene personnel found 80 people living in
the upper part of the building. They were evacuated and the fire
extinguished. However, there still remained the problem of what to do with the now homeless residents stranded on a particularly cold night.
Midgley said members of Johannesburg's disaster management
team were at the scene and would ensure shelter for the night. On
Friday more permanent accomodation would be found for them.
He said six cars were damaged in the fire, one of them an Audi
A4.
- SAPA