A fire erupted at a house in Zone 1 leaving nothing but few items of clothing. Emerald Motaunyane the owner of the house said that the fire started at around 7pm.
“I was sleeping in one of the bedrooms and my mother was watching the television with the children.
“My mother said she smelled something in the kitchen and asked the children to go and take a look.
“The children went to check and woke me up to tell me the house is burning,” she said.
Motaunyane said that she took the children out of the house and went to their neighbour to ask for help.
“Before I removed the children it was just smog.
“After removing the children the fire blew up,” she said.
The community called the fire station to come and assist in stopping the fire.
“Two fire brigades arrived but had no water,” said Motaunyane.
Motaunyane said that if the fire brigades had water more damage could have been prevented.
“Disaster management came to check and wants to investigate why the fire brigades had no water.”
Motaunyane was rushed to the Helen Joseph Hospital during the incident.
“I was told I inhaled a lot of smog,” she said.
Motaunyane stays with her mother, brother and her 3 children. She is the breadwinner at the home and works at the creche. Following the incident, Motaunyane said that the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) donated blankets, toiletry, and cups.
The social department came to inquire about their identity documents and took details of the documents that were destroyed by the fire. The church and the school also offered their help and Social development donated two pairs of shoes.
Motaunyane said that she had no idea what started the fire because nothing was switched on at the kitchen.
Principal at Morutathuto primary school Matshidiso Mashile said that two of the children from the burned house are pupils at Morutathuto.
“The pupils lost everything their uniform and study material.
“The school will assist with their study material and we donated jerseys and sock to the pupils,” said Mashile.
Motaunyane and Mashile are requesting any donations to assist the family in recovering from this ordeal.
Anyone interested in donating can contact Mashile on (011) 939 2795 or 082 557 3657.
