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The Citizen reports that firefighters who survived the tragic Bank of Lisbon building fire in September this year were nearly trapped and burned to death because the fire-escape was blocked by a magnetic security gate.
According to Livhuwani Maumela and Moleko Bereng, who were hospitalised for more than two months following the tragic event, what began as a mission to kill the blaze became a desperate fight for survival as flames engulfed them. Bereng, who was leading the firefighters and had found the “seat of the fire” on the 24th floor, said things took a turn for the worse when he realised not only could they not find a connection to water, access to the fire-escape was also restricted. He had to keep his team from panicking and eventually found a window to break. This was the floor from which firefighter Simphiwe Maropane, 24, fell to his death. Three firefighters in all died. Maumela and Bereng sustained severe burns to their hands and underwent skin grafting. They said extreme heat forced them to remove their gloves because in their struggle to find water they had to block fire with their hands. The two firefighters were discharged from hospital on Monday – an event the City of Joburg marked with a guard of honour featuring some of their team-members from the blaze. Investigations into the blaze are still pending.
- Read more of this The Citizen report by Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni at SA Labour News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page