Durban: eThekwini Firefighters are battling to douse a fire inside a warehouse on Peters Road in the Springfield Park area north of Durban on Thursday.
According to ALS Paramedics spokesperson, Garrith Jamieson said that at about 12.30pm rescue workers were at the scene.
Paramedics arrived on scene to find multiple workers tackling the inferno with fire hoses and hosepipes, without success” he said.
He said the Durban Fire Department arrived soon after the paramedics and were trying to contain the fire.
“Black billowing smoke can be seen kilometres away as firefighters are trying to fight this fire,” Jamieson said.
“Currently on scene we have approximately five to six fire tenders as well as all medical personnel that are on standby,” he said.
In an update at 1:50 pm Jamieson sai the eThekwini Fire Department managed to bring the fire under control.
“The fire has been extinguished however, fire fighters are still dampening down hot spots where there is still some smoke smouldering and visible to the naked eye.
“Three people, employees of the business, were treated on scene by ALS Paramedics for minor injuries. At this stage the scene is still active. Traffic is affected in the area however, it is free flowing with Metro Police in attendance,” he said.
In an earlier report, Jamison said one of the three injured workers was treated by paramedics for heat exhaustion.
Jamieson said no major injuries have been reported.
Meanwhile, IOL reported that more than 20 people have died and 43 other people were injured when a fire broke out in a hijacked residential building in Marshalltown, Johannesburg in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The five-storey building is located at the corner of Alberts and Delvers Street in the inner city.
“We started evacuating people inside the building, while conducting firefighting operations. In the process, we managed to recover about 20 bodies and about 43 people were treated for smoke inhalation and also some various injuries,” said City of Johannesburg’s Emergency Management Services (EMS) Robert Mulaudzi in the report.
