Tag: firefighters

Fires in Cape Town not yet contained

Firefighters are continuing to battle a fire on the mountains and hills above several residential areas in the South Peninsula in Cape Town.

Cape Town Disaster Risk Management said on Tuesday that firefighters were battling three areas, on the Hout Bay side of Chapman’s Peak, Tokai Forest, and Noordhoek.

The fire started on Sunday, was contained, but flared up again just after 2am on Monday in Muizenberg above Boyes Drive.

It was fanned by strong winds and spread to Ou Kaapse Weg, Chapman’s Peak, Hout Bay, and Tokai.

A source close to the Disaster Management Team battling the Cape fires has called for citizens to please stay off the roads in the south peninsula area.

Traffic is hampering firefighting efforts, with the blaze still burning in the Tokai and Fish Hoek areas.

The fire which razed at least seven homes in the Noordhoek area, as well as parts of Monkey Valley Resort, have since been contained, with evacuated residents returning to their homes, the Noordhoek Fire Department said.

300 people have also been evacuated to the Dutch Reformed Church in Noordhoek, Eyewitness News reports.

Fifty people have been evacuated to Tokai Community Church.

Rescue workers among six dead in Latvian supermarket collapse

The scene overnight in front of the collapsed supermarket
The scene overnight in front of the collapsed supermarket

Six people including two rescue workers were killed and 35 others injured on Thursday when the roof of a supermarket collapsed in a suburb of Latvia’s capital Riga, emergency services confirmed.

“Rescue efforts will continue through the night but it’s too early to name a cause or say whether there will be more victims or survivors,” emergency services spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele told AFP.

Two firefighters working at the scene to rescue trapped shoppers were among the six dead, she said, but was not able to immediately provide information about the age or sex of other victims.

Soon after midnight two people were pulled alive from the rubble, raising hopes that more survivors would be found.

Visiting the scene while rescue efforts continued, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed that police had launched a criminal investigation to determine the cause of the roof collapse and said he would be holding an emergency meeting Friday morning.

Mayor Nils Usakovs announced he was cancelling leave and was also calling an emergency meeting of municipal and rescue services for Friday.

“As soon as rescue work has finished, construction experts will investigate the causes,” said a press release from his office.

Up to 13 emergency brigades and 17 ambulance teams were working at the site late Thursday with support from military personnel.

Run by the Lithuanian-owned Maxima chain — Latvia’s number two retailer after Rimi — the supermarket was built in 2011 and was nominated for an architectural award, according to local media reports, which also said it had recently been under renovation.

Maxima published a statement on its website overnight saying the company was “overwhelmed and shocked” by the disaster but that it was not yet aware of the cause and was providing “all the information at our disposal” to the authorities. – AFP