How 55-year-old woman died in tragic house fire
A 55-year-old woman was burnt to death after becoming trapped in a house fire during the early hours of Sunday, September 11.
Colleen Rondganger was at home, in Lily Street, Reiger Park, when the fire suddenly broke out in the home she shared with 24 other people, including children, her six-year-old granddaughter and her partner, David Smith.
Woman dies after saving grandchild from house fire
Rondganger’s significant other, Smith, had just stepped out of their bedroom to the toilet, when he noticed what he initially thought was fog, but thought: ”No, that doesn’t smell like fog”.
Smith quickly went out of the toilet and discovered that the backyard shack and a three-room building attached to the main three-bedroom house had erupted in flames.
“When I opened the toilet door, a dark wall of smoke hit my face and I yelled to everyone in the building to come out,” he said.
He told the Advertiser that he screamed for help, shouting: “It’s burning!”, and tried to get into his bedroom to save his partner and her granddaughter, but the rooms and the passage were already engulfed in heavy smoke and flames.
“It was black smoke all over the place,” he said.
”The fire came up straight to my face. I shouted to the people in the building, including the children: ‘You must wake up and run’, because the fire was too strong.”
Smith told how he and Rondganger’s son, Edward Solomons, battled fierce flames and thick smoke to rescue Rondganger, who was with her granddaughter, Lucrisha Solomons (6), inside one of the burning rooms attached to the main house.
“Carrying a blanket, Edward came from another room and ran screaming into our bedroom to rescue my wife and Lucrisha, as the blaze engulfed the rooms,” said Smith.
In a split second Edward managed to pull the little girl out of his parents’ burning bedroom, while Smith was shouting at other people, who were still sleeping in the building, that the house was on fire.
The girl sustained a minor scorch on her lower body.
“After rescuing the child from the blazing bedroom, Edward headed back into the inferno engulfing the building to rescue his mother, but, unfortunately, he couldn’t get back into the bedroom because the fire and smoke were so heavy.
“He kept running back and forth to get into the blazing room, but was pushed back by smoke and flames. The roof started to fall, trapping my wife in there,” Smith said.
Following the unsuccessful attempts to rescue Rondganger from the flames, there was nothing the family could do but wait for firefighters, who were still on their way.
When Rondganger was finally removed from the burning room, she had already suffered smoke inhalation and burns on her body – and paramedics certified her dead on the scene.
Smith told the Advertiser that Edward suffered smoke inhalation and serious burns in his efforts to save his trapped mother.
Paramedics treated Edward on the scene, following his act of bravery, before he was taken to hospital, where he is in a stable condition.
Rondganger’s heavily pregnant daughter, Nicole Solomons, was in another room when the fire broke out. She appeared physically uninjured, however, due to the incident and her condition she was also taken to hospital where she is now reportedly due to give birth.
The blaze also tragically killed two dogs, after they were trapped inside the building.
The rest of the people ran out of the building unharmed.
“Colleen was everything to me. We have been staying together for 27 years and it’s sad that I have lost her in the blink of an eye… my world has been turned upside down by this disaster,” said a grieving Smith.
Firefighters were able to control the fire within a few minutes, but the three rooms and the shack attached to the main house were burnt out.
The family could not save any of their belongings from the fire, which gutted the property.
“All the clothes and furniture are gone. We couldn’t save any belongings. All we could save was Lucrisha,” said Smith, who has lived in the house for more than 28 years, since he was released from Barberton Prison, in Mpumalanga.
The family of Rondganger, who died in the house fire, are appealing for donations, such as clothing, food, furniture and building material.
Fire investigators have now launched a probe into what started the blaze.-@FanieFLK
