A chemical fire that left billowing clouds of smoke hanging over Brakpan North was extinguished at noon on Friday, 14 hours after it started.
At least three residents were hospitalised for irritation to their mucous membranes — eyes, noses and mouths — caused by the fumes, said Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson Sugan Moodley.
Two metro police officers, who were among the first rescue workers to react to reports of something obscuring visibility in the area, were also overcome by the fumes and had to be treated in hospital, said Ekurhuleni metro police’s Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago.
William Makhonya was treated in the Bedford Gardens hospital and discharged, while Nthabiseng Mofokeng is being kept for observation, he said.
The heap of sulphur ash — dumped over 10 000 square metres of an old mining site — was thought to have spontaneously combusted at 10pm on Thursday, said Moodley.
Fifty firefighters trained in working with hazardous materials laboured through the night to put out the fire, using seven fire engines and water tankers from Wadeville, Bedfordview and Kempton Park.
The sulphur ash — a by-product of sulphuric acid used in the making of bricks — did not produce large flames, but emitted huge plumes of smoke that covered a large area, said Moodley. It is not known when it was dumped at the site, or by whom.
A plume of bluish-purple smoke could be seen rising 80m into the night sky shortly after the blaze began, he said.
”Because it was cold, the smoke was just hanging. When the wind changed, the plume of smoke changed direction to the Springs area.”
As the day got warmer, the smoke rose even higher, causing what looked like a storm cloud, said a shopkeeper in the area.
The sulphur ash was being moved to a safe and appropriate Waste Tech facility by Friday afternoon, said Moodley.
So far the only symptoms experienced by people in the area were headaches, sore throats, coughing, watering eyes and throats that burnt, Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson Johan van der Heever told radio stations.
While Van der Heever cautioned those with respiratory diseases to be careful, he said there is no need to panic at this stage.
People affected by the fumes were advised to visit their local doctors or clinics. Reports of evacuations from houses early in the day were unfounded.
A motorist was reportedly confronted with putrid-smelling smog so thick she could not see the car in front of her. Her eyes and throat started burning and her chest closed up, she said. — Sapa