Flames of destruction
NORTHWOLD – Family left with only some washing and two blankets after a fire destroyed everything.
The fire occurred around 7.30 pm on 14 February.
At the time of the incident there were five people and they all managed to get out safe.
According to the owners of the house that was built 30 years ago, they lit the candle during the load shedding in the area.
Owners Elriva and Patrick Dacey said they had lit about three candles after the electricity had gone out.
Elriva explained, ”My husband [Patrick] saw a light and thought it was the electricity that had come back on, but then he smelled the fire and screamed, ‘Fire, get out’. We then ran out and screamed for help from our neighbours.”
She said they are left with nothing but the clothes they had on them.
“A few days ago I took out my mother’s skirt because it was so hot. I am so happy that it is the part of the washing that we have. I still have a part of her at least.”
Ward 101 Councillor Ralf Bittkau commented, ”It is heart-breaking what happened. I hope people are aware of the risk we all run with the power outages and load shedding. I hope people know how dangerous it is to leave open flames.”
Neighbour Gerrie Jansen said, ”They [Dacey family] came to our gate for help, so we went to help and another neighbour tried to extinguish the flames but it was already out of our control. It took about 30 to 40 minutes for the firefighters to arrive.”
Attempts to get comments from the Hunters Hill and Randburg fire stations were unsuccessful.
A neighbour from two houses down the road, Ivan Penny, explained that he had seen some sparks flying onto his neighbour’s thatched roof. ”My gardener and I immediately jumped the fence. We got shocked by an electricity fence, but we managed to stop the roof from catching fire.
“The way the community came together to help has really re-instilled my faith in humanity.”
Penny added that two houses could have been affected by the fire.
Patrick cautioned the public to be careful, ”Please, during load shedding, be careful with candles and the holder that you have the candle in. What hurts me the most is that we have lost all of our memories. This home gave us a place of refuge and security, my kids grew up here. It is all gone now, it will never be the same,what we had has gone up in flames.”
