Fire Engulfs Parliament Buildings in Cape Town, Firefighters Battle Inferno
- A fire has broken out in the Old Assembly Building in Cape Town in the Parliamentary Precinct of the city
- 36 Firefighters are battling the inferno in an attempt to contain it, reports have not been able to confirm what started the fire
- Contradicting reports indicated the National Assembly might also be on fire but this has not been confirmed
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CAPE TOWN - Update: A 51-year-old has been taken into custody and is currently being questioned about the fire.
The Parliament precinct in Cape Town was engulfed in flames on Sunday, the Old Assembly Building appears to be at the centre of the blaze.
Firefighters have been battling the huge inferno in an attempt to contain the fire. A huge column of smoke can be seen rising from the buildings.
Source: Twitter
Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille called for calm and said that the National Assembly was not burning but the smoke from the fire is being pulled over the National Assembly by winds and the extract fans according to eNCA.
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The emergency services received a call early in the morning at around 5:03 am. It is not clear what started the fire.
However, JP Smith of the mayoral committee for safety and security said# contrary to what de Lille reported, the National Assembly was on fire, according to SABC News.
Reports indicate that the fire started on the third floor and spread towards the gymnasium. Thirty-six firefighters rushed to the scene to fight the blaze and conflicting reports say that the fire may not be under control.
Mzansi worried about loadshedding following explosion at Camden Power Station
Earlier, Briefly News reported that South Africans on social media have shown great concerns that an explosion on Wednesday morning, 29 December at the Camden Power Station just outside Ermelo in the Mpumalanga could lead to rolling blackouts.
The news about the explosion was broken by Chris Yelland, an energy analyst, on his Twitter page well before Eskom made the official announcement.
Yelland stated that an inside source revealed that at around 11am, the explosion was caused by a faulty transformer. An hour later, he confirmed that the explosion led to a fire breaking out, however, it was contained.
"There was a fault on Camden Unit 8 generator transformer. The fire has been contained. A specialist will assess the damage & cause. Units 7 & 8 are shut down. Unit 7 is shut down to protect its transformer from flashover due to water sprayed on the Unit 8 transformer," wrote Yelland.
Source: Briefly News
