‘It was chaos’: The Greenhouse restaurant in Sandton goes up in flames

Popular Sandton eatery The Greenhouse caught fire on Saturday night, sparking chaos as people attempted to flee the “massive flames”.

However, no serious injuries were reported.

Ameera Jappie, who was there, said the fire started when the ceiling, which is made from artificial grass, caught alight from sparks from party flares.

“It was chaos. It was really bad, everything caught alight so fast,” she said.

The local eatery issued a notice on its Instagram page, saying: “We would like to inform everyone that there has been an unfortunate event tonight at The Greenhouse and that everyone is safe and OK. We would like to thank the heroes and emergency services who helped us tonight.”

Jappie said she, her sister and cousin were sitting outside the eatery as it was packed with no tables available inside.

“Everyone was having a ‘lekker jol’, dancing, drinking and all. My sister had gone to the toilet just before. At about 10.30pm, I think there was a live performance happening and suddenly everyone got quiet. We stood up and looked behind and inside. There was a small flame that had started.”

She said: “People were trying to put it out and the music had stopped. Everyone was still standing for a while until the fire started getting very wild. It started spreading, people started running towards the entrance. At this point, people are jumping over the furniture, everybody is in panic mode, it was chaos.”

Jappie said she went into panic mode when she realised her sister, Nasreen Wells, was still in the toilet.

“I ran inside the club and people were pushing me out because everyone was trying to get out. I told the bouncer that my sister was still in the toilet. Everybody was screaming and saying, ‘get out’,” she said.

She said they later found her sister outside as she had used the toilet at the mall.

“There were people trying to break down the door that led to the bathrooms because there were people stuck inside. It was really bad, people were coughing. I am sure there are lots of people who suffered from smoke inhalation last night,” Jappie said.

Wells said all she saw when she came out of the toilet were flames.

“All I saw was this massive flame and I was thinking they are inside (her sister and cousin). I was standing, not knowing what to do, the next thing, I saw them and I didn’t know where they came from. We just hugged each other and we were shaking and crying. It was bad, our eyes were burning, we were coughing,” Wells said.

Jappie said they were still in shock.

“Just the fact that you realise that things can change so quickly, the fact that I thought my sister was in the bathroom stuck there, it was hectic. Other than that we are OK physically,” she said.

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