Woman rescued from inferno
The Morningside community rallied around a granny and helped her escape injury and removed her car from the yard after her house was gutted by a fire on Sunday afternoon.
A team of community heroes managed to get a Morningside woman to safety after her house caught alight on Sunday afternoon.
The Smiso Nkwanyana (Goble) Road home was gutted within minutes and the road had to be cordoned off while firefighters fought the blaze.
Reggie Moodliar was on his way to the store when he noticed the billowing smoke across the street. “I didn’t have my phone so ran back to call the fire brigade before I jumped over the fence and went to see if I could help. By then the fire was huge and everything was black with flames coming through the roof. I knew there was someone there because she was screaming for help but on the other side of the house so I couldn’t get there,” he said.
Moodliar realised that the car parked on the driveway had to be moved because the bonnet was already hot and enlisted the help of two youngsters who lived in the unattached outbuilding of the house. “I broke the window and we battled to move the car because it had a steering lock but managed to roll the car out before it also caught alight. I was worried that it might explode,” he said.
The two youngsters, Ngoni Chibuwe and Lance Chikodzi were talking to Lynne de Jager just moments before her house went up in flames. “We just got home from training and helped Lynne sort out her remote because it was faulty. She came out in the garden and gave us a lecture about going out at night and I was about to take a shower when Lance and I heard her scream, I thought she said there was a snake, but later saw her run and shout my house is on fire. Just then there was a poping sound of glass shattering and we thought we could try stop it,” Chikodzi said.
Barefoot, the two ventured into the house because their landlady wanted to retrieve her handbag and keys. They carried her and the four dogs over a neighbours wall to get her to safety. They tried to get a fire extinguisher from their car but when they got back to the house the “thick black smoke” was everywhere and they had to get out.
De Jager’s son was working out of town and was thankful for the help his mother received from the two youngsters and neighbours. “She was extremely traumatised. It is terrible to have all your possessions lost in minutes. The sad thing is my mum had family heirlooms and lots of treasured photographs and albums of family and her modelling days which are memories that cannot be replaced. We are not a wealthy family, but appliances can be replaced hopefully if the insurance comes through, but her sentimental treasures are gone forever,” he said.
“We are very grateful to the community who stopped and came through to assist my mum with some clothes after the fire,” he added.
De Jager’s four dogs were also traumatised and taken to the SPCA before they could be returned home. Two of de Jager’s cats have not returned after the fire.
