A FIRE broke out at a Unisa campus in the early hours of yesterday morning, 21 December.
The fire started on the second floor of the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Building on the Muckleneuk campus in Tshwane at around 12.59am.
Tshwane Emergency Services deputy chief Charles Mabaso said firefighters were dispatched to the scene and noticed dense smoke coming from the building before they even reached the campus.
“Firefighters had to force entry through three wooden doors and two steel roller doors to gain access to the building to fight the fireSecurity officers at the campus later assisted by opening other doors with their access cards,” he said.
Mabaso said fire-fighters managed to locate the fire after battling to open multiple doors and going through stacks of files, books and furniture.
“Firefighters found stacks of books and files that were smoldering in various places on the second floor and extinguished them.
“Most of the second floor suffered extensive smoke and water damage and part of the third floor also suffered some smoke damage,” he said.
He said an aerial ladder apparatus was used to open windows and mechanical ventilation was conducted to rid the building of excessive smoke.
“According to sources at the scene, a fire had broken out in the same building about two weeks ago and was extinguished by the staff and the emergency services were never notified,” he said.
Mabaso said the cost of the damage was not yet known and the cause of the fire had not been determined yet.
