A bottle store on the corner of Kerk and Oos streets went up in flames in the early hours of Saturday morning. Emergency services and fire-fighters rushed to the scene, but had a fight on their hands, as the fire was spreading quickly. According to community members, the iconic bottle store has been in the same spot since some of them were children.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage, but according to the security company contracted to the store, everything happened very quickly. They received an alarm for just one zone and upon investigation, they couldn’t see anything. However, moments later, multiple zones registered an alarm and the next thing they knew, flames were leaping through the roof of the building. The company notified all relevant emergency services, but fire-fighters could do little to save the store with the blaze spreading so rapidly. Fortunately, the bottle store had fire walls on both sides, which prevented the inferno from spreading to other shops.
It is believed that the fire hydrant next to the building did not have any water and apart from the fire department’s truck and bakkie, additional ‘bakkie sakkies’ were called in to assist. Sadly, the bottle store could not be saved and was razed to the ground.
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The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Vryheid Herald, a sold newspaper distributed in the Vryheid area.
