Family of nine devastated after house burns down
The Kruger household from West Village was without water for more than a week and could not extinguish the fire.
A family of nine was left without refuge, food or clothing when their house burnt to the ground this past Family Day (17 April).
At about 6.30am, Jenine Kruger woke her father, Boet, and told him that their house was on fire.
Also read: Resident cries and watches as home burns down
Jenine suffers from acute sinus and has a very sensitive sense of smell because of it.
At first Boet could not smell anything. He told Jenine that she was imagining things and she should go back to bed.
But after a few moments he started smelling the suffocating smoke which made him cough.
“I got such a fright when I entered the TV room and saw the wall mount, TV and wall were on fire,” said Boet. “I grabbed the two toddlers and ran outside while calling the dogs.”
Stefanie Roux, who was also inside the house ran to safety and watched their house, engulfed in flames, burn to the ground.
“As the sun rose, I was wandering around in disbelief, not being able to process that everything we had was gone,” said Stefanie.
“I kept on thinking ‘if only we had water to extinguish the fire’.”
Also read: Eyewitness account of devastating house fire
The Kruger household was without water for more than a week after two vehicles had collided on the main road and damaged their water meters.
“The flames weren’t that big at first,” said Boet. “But because we didn’t have water, we had no way of extinguishing the flames and had to watch our house being destroyed.”
Luckily two of their back rooms that were not connected to the house were not damaged by the fire and provide the family with a temporary place to stay.
A few kindhearted community members together with Honeyfield Charity donated blankets and clothes to the family, however, they are still in dire need of food, shoes and bedding.
“We need to take care of our own in West Village,” said Ann Bezuidenhout, owner of Honeyfield Charity. “We are going to support this family in any way we can.”
Louis Moleba, councillor of Ward 26 of which West Village forms part, also helped the household by contacting Mogale City Disaster Management and providing them with company names that might help them with necessities.
Now, they are asking the community for any donations that could help keep them warm during the cold winter that lies ahead.
They need clothes for their family that consists of:
• two 17-year-old girls: Average build. Medium-size clothes and shoes sizes 6 and 7
• one 26-year-old woman. Slim build. Medium or small clothes
• one 46-year-old man. Large build, large or XL clothes
• one five-year-old girl. Medium build
• one two-year-old boy. Small build
• one 21-year-old man. Medium build. Medium to large clothes
• one 19-year-old man. Medium build. Medium to large clothes
• one 63-year-old man. Large build. Large clothes
Any food or blankets are welcome and any other donation to help them will be appreciated.
The family needs to wait more than five months for their insurance to pay out and is desperate for help.
If you want to make a donation of any kind, kindly contact Boet Kruger on 060 742 7505 or Ann Bezuidenhout of Honeyfield Charity on 082 378 1395.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at krugersdorpnews@caxton.co.za or phone us on 011 955 1130.
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