Nearly 200 residents have been left homeless after a fire tore through the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay in Cape Town, in the early hours on Friday.
Community leaders and affected residents alerted emergency services as flames spread rapidly through the densely populated settlement, prompting an urgent response from local authorities and humanitarian organisations.
Conducting assessments
The humanitarian group Gift of the Givers was among the first on the scene.
Teams were dispatched immediately and are currently conducting assessments to determine the full extent of the damage and the number of households affected.
Officials from Disaster Risk Management have assured residents that humanitarian relief partners are being activated to provide emergency assistance, including shelter, food, and essential supplies.
The blaze in Imizamo Yethu forms part of a worrying surge in informal settlement fires reported across the Western Cape.
Other fires
Just days earlier, the Drakenstein Disaster Management Centre alerted Gift of the Givers to a second fire within a week at the Mbokweni informal settlement in Paarl.
Teams are still on site assessing damage and confirming how many people were affected in that incident.
In a further escalation, Gift of the Givers was also alerted to an active fire in Vygieskraal, Manenberg, where backyard dwelling structures were reported to be burning.
Emergency and humanitarian teams are now stretched across multiple sites, working to contain the fires and ensure that immediate relief reaches affected families.
The latest incidents have renewed calls for stronger disaster management and fire prevention strategies in informal settlements, where tightly packed structures and limited access to services increase vulnerability to fires.
As authorities continue assessments, the resilience of affected communities is being met with rapid intervention from emergency services and humanitarian organisations striving to stabilise the situation and provide urgent support.
