Joburg CBD fire inquiry: Building had poor prevention measures - first witness

JOHANNESBURG – The commission of inquiry into the deadly Marshalltown fire has brought in the Joburg Emergency Services acting chief – Rapulane Monageng – as the first witness.

Chaired by retired Constitutional Court justice – Sisi Khampepe – the inquiry which began on Thursday, will probe circumstances surrounding the tragic blaze at Usindiso building that killed 77 people.

A raging fire gutted the five-storey hijacked building in August – leaving scores of people injured and hundreds more displaced.

In his opening remarks, Monageng said the building had poor fire prevention measures – including fire hazards found by the first responders.

While the Usindiso building is a city-owned property that was illegally occupied by hundreds of people – the first witness told the commission that emergency exits in the building were blocked by shacks and wooden structures.
READ: Inquiry will assist in answering questions about Marshalltown fire, says Lesufi

Monageng added that residents were using the fire hose reel mounted on the walls for domestic purposes – and they were cut short to allow people to use them without a hassle.

The material used to erect shacks and gas stoves found in several rooms were also a ticking time bomb, he pointed out.

“That emergency route commissioner was blocked off with boxes, it was blocked off with plywood. But this door when its locked, you can’t even access the stairwells on the other side.”

Rapulane provided a 77-page document with hundreds of pictures detailing all the fire hazards identified by emergency service officials.