The building, also known as "China City" burned down on the evening of Monday, 05 December 2022. The spokesperson for the Mangaung Metro Municipality, Qondile Khedama, says the municipality’s fire and rescue team struggled at first to get the fire to subside but eventually got through.

The reason for the delay was that some of the store owners were still inside the building at the time the fire began. For the fire, which went on for hours, to be fully extinguished, the fire on the roof had to be put out first so that the fire inside the building could also be extinguished.

"We struggled a bit with getting the store owners out of the building, as some were hesitant to leave their belongings inside, but we eventually got everyone out with no harm," he adds.

Contributing to getting the fire extinguished was that, while struggling to get everyone out safe and sound, the fire started expanding. 

Khedama also explained that as the fire and rescue team was battling to put the fire out, some of the community members started looting stores. "While the team was making way with putting the fire out, other people started looting to the point where the South African Police Service (SAPS) had to be called ."

The fire went on until the late hours of the night. While Emergency Services (EMS) personnel were on the scene, Khedama explained that it took a long time for the fire to be fully extinguished because the walls had to be cooled before the fire and rescue teams could enter to extinguish the inside. He said that a lot of water was used for this process to ensure that the fire was completely out. 

It is not yet known how much value the business owners have lost as a result of the fire.

OFM News