City flower sellers lose thousands in mystery fire

FLOWER sellers were left sweeping up the sodden mess that was left of their businesses after a fire broke out at the popular Adderley Street flower market yesterday.

The fire had engulfed a flower sellers’ storage structure before 7am, where tools and equipment were kept, and had crept up the wall of the Standard Bank building next to it. The window of the building was blown out by the blaze and the first floor roof was also damaged.

After the blaze was extinguished, the flower sellers got rid of melted crates and soaked flower buckets.

City fire and rescue services spokesman Theo Layne said the fire started at a flower vendors’ holding structure.

The fire department responded to the blaze at 7am, when three fire engines and 23 firefighters converged on the scene.

“We don’t know the cause at this stage,” he said.

Layne said the fire had reached a portion of the first floor of the Standard Bank building next to the flower market.

“The interior sustained minor damage, more from smoke than anything else,” he said.

Unfortunately, he said, water used to combat the fire had damaged the flowers. No one was injured.

Ilhaam Benjamin, the owner of the damaged storage structure, said an estimated R40 000 worth of equipment – including gazebos, buckets and tools – was destroyed.

“We only got here by 8am. Everything was in there. We don’t know what we will do now. We are in shock. I can’t even think now,” she said.

Fadwah Sasman inspected the damage to her flowers, emptied buckets of drenched flowers and swept the water off the pavement.

“The damage is in the thousands. Look, our flowers are damaged from the water. They are spoiled,” she said.

“We are not here. We leave at night, but people come in here at night and smoke and go on, there’s no security here and there’s nothing we can do,” Sasman added.

Another flower seller, Delia Gamaldien, said one of the sellers who had stayed at the site throughout the night alerted her to the blaze just after 6am.

While her flowers and equipment were undamaged, Gamaldien claimed that homeless people, or those roaming the streets, would often gain entry to the premises and set the property alight by accident.

“They use drugs or whatever and come here and smoke,” she said.

Gamaldien said this was probably how the fire started and a similar incident had occurred last year.