A FAMILY of four, their six month old Bull Mastiff and a family friend watched in horror as their home was engulfed by a blazing inferno. The fire which began after midnight this morning gutted three bedrooms, the bathroom and the lounge and a bakkie. The blaze also destroyed part of the roof. The owner, who did not want to be named, said he preferred to look on the optimistic side of things as his family and their beloved pet escaped unscathed.
Their Worman Place home was the picture of devastation this morning, with the smouldering belongings of the family scattered and charred among the crumpled remains. The family is now salvaging whatever they can and are living in their outhouse.
“We’ve lost everything but the important thing is my family is safe and unharmed,” the owner said. The fire believed to have originated in his son’s room and may have resulted from an electric short.
“My son had the heater in his room and he remembers hearing a popping sound. He ran into our bedroom and shouted ‘Dad, there’s a fire, there’s a fire’,” he said.
Panic stricken the family rushed to get buckets of water to douse the flames. “When we got back into the room, the flames were already out of control. We ran out and tried to move all the cars parked in the driveway. The worst part was hearing the sounds as the fire through the house. The smoke cloud was really thick and visibility wasn’t great.”
The six month old Bull Mastiff, Odin, also had to be rescued from a burning home. “He was confused and he ran back towards the flames, so my son had to rush back in to rescue him.”
He also praised the uMhlanga fire department for their timely response.
