A huge fire ripped through a slum in Sao Paulo—the business capital of Brazil—on Sunday. It’s left more than a thousand people homeless. Here’s more on the story.

At least 1,000 people have no roof over their head, after a raging inferno swept through a slum in Brazil's business capital Sao Paulo.

It took 27 fire trucks to put out the blaze that lasted for over three hours. According to authorities, a 2,000 square-meter area and hundreds of shacks mostly made of wood and cardboard were destroyed.

People used water buckets and hoses to try to prevent the flames from spreading. No one died, but many were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

The people blame the fire fighters for taking too long to arrive.

[Witness]:
"We called the fire fighters but they never showed up; we called six times and they still hadn't shown up."

But a fire fighter says it took so long to reach the fire, because of the shanty town’s size.

[Firefighter]:
"The fire fighters arrived very quickly, but the community (slum) is very big."

Most people did not have time to save their belongings.

[Witness 2]:
"Most people lost everything, documents, money they had received from their salaries burned entirely.”

[Witness 3]:
I lost everything. I lost the milk for my children, I lost everything."

Some 300 families were recently moved to a public housing district but most people refused the government's proposal.

Mayor Gilberto Kassab visited the site shortly after the fire broke out and promised to provide temporary shelters for the affected.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire.