Barberton woman burns to death in house

A woman died in her bed in Barberton this morning, August 22, after a fire had started in her house.

The woman, whose identity is known to Lowvelder, had been living on her own in Sheba Road and was bedridden, Sakkie Dednam of Hi-Tech Barberton confirmed. She had a helper looking after her during the day.

Various role players responded to the scene. Dednam said the fire had started at about 06:30 – they had received a panic alarm from the house, which alerted them to it. The process of putting the fire out resulted in a closure of Sheba Road for more than an hour.

As the woman was very security conscious, all doors and windows were closed, which made access to the home one of the biggest challenges.

“We saw the smoke coming out from the roof. We knew where her bedroom was and had to try and get to her, so we had to get the safety door and the wooden door open, which was very difficult.

“Once the doors were open, the fire was already very bad.”

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One of the responders to the scene attempted to get through the fire and smoke and to the woman, but to no avail.

Jan Oberholzer, who is putting together a team in the town to assist with fires and other emergency situations, was also there with members of his team – Barberton does not currently have its own fire department. The responders had also called Barberton Mines to assist, and a team arrived from there, too.

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As various role players were added to the mix, they continued with the process of systematically extinguishing the fire, but they knew the woman had passed away by this time. Her body was found next to her bed.

“Everything was destroyed. There was nothing left. The place was completely destroyed. The roof had caved in, and everything had burnt out,” said Dednam.