Trapped bed-ridden elderly couple dies in raging house fire
This now completely gutted home on Moira Road belonged to Pat and Haydn Stanley, both well-known in the area.
Intense efforts to rescue an elderly Muldersdrift couple from a raging inferno in their home on Tuesday, 17 September, were devastatingly in vain.
A saddened Ward 39 councillor Zillah Maguire told Northsider that due to the severity of the fire and the security measures at the house nobody could get inside to try and rescue them in time.
“The security gates were locked and all the windows had burglar bars, so nobody could even break a window to gain entry,” she lamented.
This now completely gutted home on Moira Road belonged to Pat and Haydn Stanley, both well-known in the area.
Maguire, who was on the scene, suspected an electrical fault in a heater to be the cause of this tragedy. Sadly, the duo could not escape the fire due to their deteriorated health.
“Mrs Stanley had a hip replacement recently and was bedridden, and Mr Stanley was also very old and frail,” she explained.
“It was such a devastating day, but I would like to thank each and every farmer, neighbour, firefighter and member of disaster management, private security personnel, family, friends and trauma counsellors who were on the scene trying to help, each in their own way,” she said, also sending her sincerest condolences to the Stanley couple’s family and friends.
BCI Security was among the many response units that rushed to the scene to attempt to rescue the elderly couple.
“The responders found the entire house engulfed in flames. A rescue mission to search for the trapped persons could not be initiated immediately due to the severity of the fire. Firefighters and other responders concentrated on getting the fire under control, which took almost an hour,” the director of the company, Corinda Loots explained.
“After another three hours, they managed to extinguish the fire. Only then members were able to enter what remained of the house. A brief search led the members to the bodies of the couple that very sadly lost their lives in the inferno.
“We thank all the services and community members that responded without hesitation to assist where needed. This include but is not limited to Disaster Management SCF Muldersdrift, Sam – Muldersdrift CPF, Search and Rescue, Police K-9 Search and Rescue, Debby – Helderkloof CPF, Mogale Fire, ER24, Netcare, Emerg-G-Med and all the community members,” Corinda concluded.
