Residents and occupants of a high-rise building in Johannesburg’s inner city were woken from their sleep in the early hours of Friday morning after a fire broke out at a building near the busy Bree Taxi Rank.

City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) confirmed that firefighters responded to the incident at around 03:00 at the corner of Bree and Harrison streets. The fire occurred in a 16-storey building with both residential and commercial sections.

According to City of Joburg EMS spokesperson Xoli Khumalo, the blaze originated on the ground floor and did not spread to other levels of the building.

“EMS firefighters responded to a fire incident at 03:00 today at the corner of Bree and Harrison streets. Initial assessments indicate that the fire originated on the ground floor of a sixteen-storey building with both residential and commercial sections and did not spread to other floors,” said Khumalo.

Residents described being jolted awake by loud noises, the smell of smoke and flashing emergency lights outside the building. Some occupants rushed outside in their night clothes as firefighters worked to contain the blaze, while others peered from windows as smoke billowed from the lower levels of the structure.

Fire crews swiftly initiated suppression operations and managed to extinguish the fire before it could spread further. EMS teams remained on scene later in the morning, conducting damping-down operations to prevent any re-ignition, with smoke still visible hours after the fire was put out.

A large electrical transformer located on the ground floor is suspected to have caused the fire. Khumalo said the exact cause would only be confirmed after a full investigation once all emergency operations are completed. No injuries were reported.

City of Joburg MMC for Public Safety, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, said Emergency Management Services were deployed to the corner of Harrison Street and Lilian Ngoyi Street near the Bree Taxi Rank, at the License Hall Lofts building, which is believed to be used as student accommodation.

“A fire broke out following the restoration of electricity after load shedding, when an electrical transformer allegedly failed. EMS responded promptly and successfully contained the fire, preventing further escalation,” Tshwaku said.

He added that the scene remains under assessment and investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing.

Sources indicated that the building is believed to be hijacked, raising further concerns about safety in the inner city. The incident comes just two days after a separate building explosion in Johannesburg injured several people, adding to growing public anxiety about a spate of fires and structural incidents in the city centre.

The issue of unsafe buildings has been a persistent challenge for the City of Johannesburg, with memories still fresh of the 2023 inner-city fire tragedy in which 79 people lost their lives.

Meanwhile, City Power confirmed that the Bree Substation remains switched off following the fire. The power utility said electricity supply will only be restored once investigations, damage assessments and risk evaluations have been completed.

“All transformer-related enquiries will be handled by City Power. Restoration of supply will commence once it is confirmed that it is safe to do so,” the utility said.

Residents have been urged to remain cautious as emergency teams continue to monitor the area.