A thousand homes in Khayelitsha have been equipped with early warning fire detection devices, offering hope and a safer future for a community that has long faced the impact of devastating fires.
Khayelitsha, South Africa (17 September 2025) – The issue of fires that ravage through informal settlements, leaving families devastated and displaced, is nothing new. In fact, it is a persistent one that happens far too often and doesn’t always make headlines.
It’s a problem that struck a chord with high school student Gabriella Mogale, who in 2018 created an invention to combat it. She designed a mixture of recyclable substances that would be painted onto the interior of the shacks’ corrugated iron. The second mixture would be applied to the exterior of the shack to make it fire-resistant.
Even years after we first featured Gabriella and her innovative solution, the threat of these fires persists, continuing to endanger countless lives.
More recently, in continued efforts to address and minimise this heartbreaking reality that leaves so many forced to start from scratch, wounded and absolutely gutted, an initiative by the City of Cape Town in collaboration with Lumkani has used the power of technology to help.
In Khayelitsha, an area known for its extensive informal settlements and the associated risk of fires, 1,000 homes were equipped with innovative early warning fire detection devices.
This technology is said to be a meaningful solution to helping save lives and bring down the number of these fires by giving families precious time to act and prevent the spread of flames within and across shacks.
“Fire prevention is everyone’s business. We need everyone to be careful, particularly in informal settlements with candles and heaters and paraffin stoves, because once a fire starts, we all know how quickly it spreads,” comments Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The initiative has been well received and is said to already be making a difference in Khayelitsha’s SST area, where resident Nandipha Ntintelo said she has learnt from her neighbours who have been victims of these fires on how to exercise extra precautions and hasn’t experienced any fires in her area since the installation of the devices.
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Fire Fighter, Sithembiso Bheku, further implored the community to be careful, vigilant, and to use the Fire Department’s emergency numbers as the fire season approaches.
We hope that these newly installed devices and collaborations will pave the way for a safer future for these families, preserve their homes and curb the devastation that they have been victims of for far too long.
Fire emergency numbers:
Emergency line: 107
Goodwood Control Centre: 021 590 1900
Khayelitsha Fire Station: 021 444 8959
Sources: City of Cape Town
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