The Citizen reports that an alleged lack of functional fire hydrants with a fire which wouldn’t die down led to the mass evacuation of patients at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital.

Seemingly lack of maintenance might be the issue. Wynand Engelbrecht, the CEO of the privately-owned firefighting operation Fire Ops South Africa (SA), explained how the fire in the special dispensary stores on Friday morning was a result of poor maintenance of the ailing structure. “The fire hydrants were part of a bigger problem. The hospital should not have any patients in it, there were dozens of doors removed that were supposed be smoke control doors and there were no smoke detectors,” he claimed. Engelbrecht added that Joburg fire fighters made the best out of a poor situation: “When the Johannesburg fire department could not find a working hydrant, they drove their fire trucks up and down, and ferried water around the building and every time they left the scene, the fire would flare up again.” If the fire had been in the actual hospital, claimed Englebrecht, it would have easily spread through the entire building as there would be nothing stopping it from spreading to other floors. “There’s nothing [to warn] anybody that indicates a fire in a ward because there’s no emergency plan. When I asked for an emergency plan on Friday night from the executive group, they could not produce anything,” Engelbrecht said. City of Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services spokesperson said the department was waiting for an investigation to be conducted regarding the cause of the fire.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Asanda Matlhare at The Citizen

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