DEVASTATING fires have claimed the lives of seven people and caused damage estimated at hundreds of thousands of rand in the eastern Free State and Johannesburg. Another fire which started in the southern Free State and spread to the northern areas of the Eastern Cape was brought under control without any reported injuries or fatalities. The eastern Free State fire destroyed more than 200 000 ha of farmland and burnt two women to death after they were trapped by the flames. Two more people died and one was injured when their car smashed into a truck in thick smoke, while a farm labourer on his way to fight the fire was killed when the tractor he was driving overturned. In Emmarentia in Johannesburg, scores of shacks were burnt in a blaze which killed one man, while in Alexandra on Sunday, a man died when his shack caught alight.