Fire-fighters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg are on  high alert after SABC’s Henley Studios, where local soapie Isidingo is filmed, caught fire in the night.

“The fire started at studio six last night at around 8pm and fire-fighters were not able to contain the fire,” spokesman Niel Rooi told the Sowetan on Thursday.

“There is a lot of smoke and they are busy damping down the building. We will not leave until we are certain that the fire is out.”

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said that the fires seemed to have originated in the Isidingo production studios, but that despite causing significant damage to property, no-one was injured by the blaze.

“No one was injured as everyone had already left. We will be assessing the situation this morning,” he said.

“The cause of the fire as well as damage assessment will be done this morning. We are not alarmed as programs will continue to run as normal.”

Appearing on Morning Live, SABC acting COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng revealed that the SABC will likely fork out  tens of millions of rand on repairs to the studio.

“As the SABC we are very shocked. As you know financially we are not sound,” he admitted, filling SABC staff and stakeholders with confidence in the process.

“This is something that we don’t know how to handle but we will get there.”

Kganyago said that the full extent of the damage was still being assessed.