Telkom Tower on fire

EWN reported this morning that the Telkom tower in Hillbrow was on fire.

“There is a bit of smoke at the bottom of the tower however, just above the soccer ball there is black smoke coming out,” one EWN listener said.

According to EWN “Johannesburg Emergency Services’ Synoch Matabago said firefighters are not able to establish just yet exactly what part of the building is on fire”.

Firefighters have arrived on the scene, but initial feedback suggests that they had trouble to gain access to the building.

It is not clear whether this fire will disrup telecoms services.

Update

Telkom explained that the fire on the Hillbrow Telkom Tower was caused by a short in the neon lettering on the outside of level 17 of the tower. 

This short resulted in the Perspex sheeting of the lettering to catch fire, and this in turn causes some of the burning plastic to drip onto the board lower down.  The sheeting of the board started smoldering, causing a fair amount of smoke.

Telkom said that this fire was only on the outside of the building and no telecoms equipment was damaged. There will therefore not be any disruption to telecoms services from the tower.

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