A two-year-old, a five-year-old and a seven-year-old were among four people who died when fire swept through the Marathon informal settlement in Germiston on Thursday night.
Rescuers found all four bodies under the burnt rubble of a shack. The fourth victim was an adult. Twelve shacks were destroyed.
Residents tried to hold the flames back with buckets until firefighters arrived. The cause of the fire has not been determined, and police have opened an investigation.
Residents fought the flames with buckets
Emergency services received the call at about 8.37pm. Crews from the Primrose, Bedfordview and Edenvale fire stations responded, and Primrose crews arrived first.
"Community members were desperately battling the blaze using a bucket brigade system," Ntladi said. Residents were trying to stop the fire spreading to nearby shacks.
Firefighters protected exposed structures and put out the flames with two attack hose-lines.
Responders were told that people might be trapped in one of the shacks. Their search found four bodies under the burnt rubble.
Police investigate
"All four were declared dead on scene by paramedics," Ntladi said.
The South African Police Service took over the scene to begin its investigation, and the bodies were taken to a forensic pathology facility in Germiston.
The victims have not been named. Officials have not said whether they lived in the same shack or were related, or how many families have lost their homes. Police have not said when they expect to finish their investigation.
A deadly pattern in Ekurhuleni
Thursday's fire is the latest in a run of deadly shack fires across the metro.
In May 2025, six members of one family died in a fire in the Marikana informal settlement, including two toddlers. A girl of about seven survived with critical burns.
In November 2025, a father, a mother and their three children died in the Steve Biko informal settlement in Etwatwa. The eldest child was a Grade 11 learner. A teenage boy who was sleeping in an outbuilding a few metres away escaped unharmed.
In August this year, three men aged between 23 and 35 died in a shack fire in the L&J informal settlement in Olifantsfontein.
Together with Thursday's fire, at least 18 people have died in these four fires alone.
Reports on informal-settlement fires often point to faulty electrical connections, paraffin stoves and unattended candles. Emergency services have not said what started the Germiston fire.
