An 11-month-old toddler has died after a fire engulfed an RDP house in Palm Ridge Extension 4 on Saturday morning.
According to the City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services spokesperson Eric Maloka, emergency crews were alerted to the blaze shortly after 09:00 and firefighters from DEMS Station 1 in Palm Ridge were immediately dispatched to the scene.
When firefighters arrived, they found residents and community members desperately attempting to contain the flames using buckets of water and sand.
Preliminary findings indicate that the fire broke out in the sitting room of the house. Despite rescue efforts, the infant was unable to escape the blaze and was declared dead at the scene by paramedics.
Maloka said authorities suspect that an electrical heater may have been the source of the fire, although the exact cause has not yet been confirmed. Fire safety officials and members of the South African Police Service are expected to conduct a full investigation to determine what sparked the blaze.
The tragedy has prompted renewed calls for residents to exercise caution when using heating and cooking appliances, particularly during the winter months when the risk of household fires increases.
The emergency services urged residents never to leave heating or cooking appliances unattended. Officials also advised residents to switch off electrical appliances during power outages to reduce the risk of fires when electricity supply is restored.
In another incident, a large warehouse was completely destroyed in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning at an industrial site in Langlaagte, west of Johannesburg.
According to the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS), firefighters were dispatched to the scene at the Amalgam industrial area at approximately 2am after receiving reports of a warehouse engulfed in flames.
EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the blaze consumed the entire 2,000-square-metre warehouse, causing extensive structural damage. The building’s exterior walls collapsed, and the roof caved in as firefighters battled the fire.
Despite the scale of the incident, no injuries or fatalities were reported.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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