Mosque saved from adjacent inferno
FIREFIGHTERS fought a massive blaze that engulfed an apartment building adjacent to the Grey Street Mosque heritage site in the Durban CBD yesterday afternoon.
eThekwini Fire regional commander Alfred Newman said the city’s emergency and communications centre receive a report of a fire that had broken out in the building on the corner of Grey Street and Queen Street and firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
“On arrival we found the building well-alight with approximately seven flats affected. There were a few people in the building who were evacuated,” he said.
He said five fire engines, a hydraulic platform and water carriers were dispatched and 30 firefighters had worked for almost two and a half hours to bring the blaze under control.
By 3pm firefighters were still attending to a few hot spots in the two storey building.
“It was quite a big fire but fortunately it was contained to the first floor. Seven flats in the building were affected and seven were unaffected and thankfully the mosque was saved. The fire started in a flat on the first floor. The owner is unsure how it could have started,” Newman said.
Newman said the family was at home when the fire broke out in one of the bedrooms which the domestic worker and children were occupying.
Newman said no one was injured in the blaze and officials from the municpality’s town planning department had arrived at the scene to assess the safety of the building.
Rescue Care paramedics spokesperson Rowan Scandroglio said paramedics had responded to the scene after receiving multiple calls for help. He said paramedics arrived at the scene to find multiple firefighters battling the blaze.
“At this stage there have been no injuries reported,” he said.
eThekwini Municipality had not responded to questions at the time of going to print.