Firefighters brassed off
HIGHLANDS NORTH - THE TENANT of a house on 7th Avenue in Highlands North arrived home to fiery inferno.
Flames were noticed coming out of the house by neighbours at about 3pm on 7 January and the fire department was notified immediately. It is suspected the wiring of the house was faulty.
The tenant, Tabona Dabutha said, “I feel so lucky that my family was not at home, and it is amazing to see how the community has come to my aid. I feel truly blessed.
“Luckily the entire family was not at home when the event took place. My children are at their uncle’s located out of town. Within 20 minutes the Northview firefighters were at the scene. I arrived and then it started to rain heavily.”
He added that the firemen had an issue using the fire hydrants as it was common in Joburg that the brass washers are stolen from them. “They did all they could and used all the resources that they had available to them, [but] we had to wait for another truck to arrive.”
This highlights two potential issues the public and municipality need to look into to prevent incidents such as this from occurring. The municipality has fire hydrants located at 300m intervals on municipal roads, however thieves steal the brass washers which make it difficult for firefighters to access them.
A suggestion to replace the brass with a type of nylon valve or washer was made by local resident, Chris Thornton-Smith.
The second issue is that the old method of cloth wiring – wiring that consists of copper covered in cotton or rayon – poses a potential fire hazard in houses built between 1945 and 1965 as it is highly flammable. It is recommended that homeowners check their electrical wiring for safety purposes.
Details: Julia Moloi 072 907 4155.
