No smoke and mirrors, please

THE thick cloud of black smoke that made its way over the Durban city centre on Friday morning made it clear that this was no ordinary fire. It took teams of fire fighters more than 24 hours to contain the blaze at a Transnet warehouse on South Coast Road, Rossburgh.

Even now the fire has not been completely extinguished, making it one of the biggest in the city.

We are grateful to the brave men and women who tirelessly battled the fire.

Now, we need the same level of efficiency from those who will investigate the matter because there are many unanswered questions.

We need to know what caused the fire. We need to know whether the fire-fighting equipment at the warehouse was in working order as well as whether it was adequate for a storage facility of that nature and size.

The people of Durban also need to know whether their personal health was compromised.

A “black rain” showered Durban at the weekend and already there are reports from people who claim to have fallen ill as a result.

We need answers and we need them quickly.