Woman (68) burns to death in her home
"It breaks my heart that my mother had to burn alive."
68-year-old Ms Dawn Niemeyer died in a fire in Jeppe Julius Park on August 11.
The incident happened during the day.
According to Mrs Niemeyer’s granddaughter, Chane who was home with her at the time of the incident, Mrs Niemeyer was sitting in her bedroom upstairs watching television when the fire started.
“I was sitting downstairs and grandma was watching television upstairs in her room. Suddenly I smelt smoke and went to check in the kitchen because I thought she had left a pot on the stove.
“Then I realised that the smoke was from upstairs. I I rushed to see what was wrong. When I got upstairs there were flames and when I tried pushing the door something was blocking it.
“She then told me to rush and get help and that is when neighbours came to help with the fire,” said Chane.
A family friend who is also a neighbour, Ms Leticiea Rausseau, said Chane called her for help.
“From my flat I could see grandma standing by the window trying to open it.
“Residents came with buckets of water, trying to put out the fire. We even connected a hose pipe but the water pressure from the tap was not enough,” said Ms Rausseau.
It is alleged that the Fairview Fire Brigade was called and a resident went to the station asking for help but was told there was no water. It ended up taking an hour for the fire engine to arrive at the scene.
According to the Emergency Management Service spokesperson, Mr Robert Mlaudzi, the allegations are not true.
“It’s not true that the fire engine didn’t have water. A fire engine from Malvern was dispatched to the incident,” said Mr Mlaudzi.
The family believes the fire was caused by a faulty plug in Mrs Niemeyer’s bedroom.
Mr Mlaudzi said the cause of the fire is still unknown.
Residents were angered by the incident because this is not the fire to break out at the complex.
“Before, one of the flats burnt and a mother with her children were inside. Residents managed to save them but the mother’s legs were burnt. A second fire damaged cars.
“Despite all these incidents, the municipality is showing no concern of getting water hydrants installed in the buildings.
“There used to be water hydrants before 1994, but they were stolen and were never replaced,” said Ms Venkatas, who is also a resident.
Residents are also concerned with the level of deterioration of the flats.
“The flats are hazardous, the conditions are bad and maintenance is non-existent,” said Ms Venkatas.
The EXPRESS visited the office manager at the flats who said he is not allowed to comment on the matter.
The EXPRESS sent a request for comment to the CoJ spokeperson, Nthatisi Modingoane on August 17, with a request for comment by August 18 before 12-noon.
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
In an attempt to obtain a response, the EXPRESS also approached CoJ Housing Region F with a request for a response to the concerns raised.
“Please be informed that the senior management team is away from the office, attending a strategic breakaway session for the following days, 17 to 19 August 2016. They will be available in the office on Monday, 22 August,” was the response from Housing Region F.
