Due to the rapid response of Cape Town firefighters, a blaze at the Great Westerford Building in Rondebosch, which houses data centres belonging to Teraco and Hetzner, has been contained, Teraco said on Thursday afternoon.

“The fire occurred on the roof of the three-storey building, while Teraco’s operations are located on the ground floor and in the basement,” said CEO Lex van Wyk.

“Due to the efficient work of the Cape Town fire department, the damage seems to have been contained to the third floor and the roof.”

Power has now been restored to the building, Van Wyk tweeted shortly after 1pm. Teraco’s facilities had been running on generator power as a result of the fire, which broke out at around 8.30am. The building was evacuated.

The fire department is in the in process of establishing the extent of the damage and the cause of the fire, Van Wyk said.

“We are monitoring the environment from our Johannesburg and Durban sites and doing all we can to maintain uptime,” he added.

“Teraco’s most critical responsibility to clients is keeping their infrastructure functioning, despite disruptions.”

Access to the building will be granted once the extent of the damage has been established and the site is deemed safe, Van Wyk said.

Hetzner, meanwhile, intimated that the fire had been caused by an electrical problem. “Hetzner’s data centres are located in the basement of the building and as yet remain unaffected by the fire,” it said in an e-mail to customers earlier on Thursday. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media