Firefighters battle shooting range blaze for hours
The Knights Shooting Range suffered a blow when two of the ranges burnt on Thursday.
Flames leapt into the air in the early hours of Thursday morning as two ranges at the Knights Shooting Range burnt.
André Barnard, the general manager of the Knights Shooting Range, told the GCN that he received a call just after midnight that the range was on fire.
“Shadrack Mmadzhali, my firearms instructor, who stays on the property, noticed the flames and saved the day,” said Barnard.
“If it wasn’t for him the range could have suffered more damage.”
Barnard added that two ranges, the tactical killhouse and the obstacle course (which is used for fitness), were destroyed in the fire.
“We still need to do a complete assessment of the damage, but I estimate it is at about R100 000 and will take about three months to rebuild,” Barnard said.
“The rest of the range is, however, still open and people can still make use of the facility.”
William Ntladi, district manager media liaison for Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services, said they started tackling the fire at about 12.50am.
“We battled to get to the core of the fire on the shooting range and when we arrived there was a large amount of tractor and truck tyres alight.
“Firefighting teams from Primrose, Bedfordview and Edenvale fire stations responded and 19 firefighters battled the blaze.”
Ntladi added that to make things more difficult, they had to shuttle water to fight the fire.
It took firefighters until about 11am to get the fire under control.
“There were no casualties recorded and at this stage we do not know the cause of the fire,” Ntladi said.
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