Scores of people have lost their homes to two fires that broke out within days of each other in Overcome Heights.
A fire on Youth Day, Sunday June 16, destroyed 20 to 30 shacks, which had been home to about 100 people, according to City Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Jermaine Carelse.
The fire department received reports of black smoke in the vicinity of St Patrick’s Avenue just after 8am.
Firefighters had extinguished the blaze by 10.25am, and a woman had been taken to a nearby medical facility with burn wounds, Mr Carelse said.
This is the second fire in the area in a matter of days. Just last Friday, a fire destroyed five shacks, leaving 12 people displaced, according to ward councillor Mandy Marr.
Community Worker Karen Mentoor appealed to the public to help the fire victims, many of whom had lost most of their possessions, including important documents such as IDs and birth certificates.
Ms Marr said the City’s Disaster Risk Management, the South African Social Security Agency and Gift of the Givers were aiding victims, but she appealed for food, clothes, school uniforms and bedding, which can be dropped off at the ward committee’s office at Living Hope in Drury Road, Vrygrond, or at the councillor’s office at the Seawinds community centre.
For more information, call Ms Marr at 084 731 3339 or Mr Mentoor at 073 559 3015.