DOONSIDE resident, Nadine Smith’s quick actions saved her family’s life after she smelt smoke at her Camelsfoot Road flat in Doonside in the early hours of Thursday, 23 October.
“The smell of smoke woke me up at about 12.45am. When I looked out of my kitchen window I saw flames coming out of a garage side door, I ran downstairs to wake up the people who live in the main house and ran upstairs to get my children and animals out. The children got out, but not the animals, as they were too scared to move, but with a lot of screaming and shouting they came out. We got to the bottom of the stairs just in time, as the flames took over the whole garage,” said Nadine.
She tried to put out the fire with her children, Nathen (15) and Daminan Geyer (13), but it was overwhelming. “I want to thank Alpha Alarms, CCPO, SAPS and neighbours who got hold of the fire department. All you could see was flames and smoke, we were in shock. A big thank you to eThekwini fire department for the amazing job they did and to Bernie who lives across the street for the clean clothes and the neighbours who helped.” The cause of the fire was a car battery on charge.
As there was a lot of smoke damage to the flat, the family is currently living elsewhere.