House burned in Extension 14

Neighbours woke the Nkosiyaphansi family after their house caught fire in the early hours of Saturday.
A neighbour who was walking past the house saw smoke coming from the upper room. He tried to wake other neighbours but all the gates were locked. He managed to jump over the high walls at one of the houses and wake the other neighbours.
The house burned on March 29 at about 04:00.

The family said the room where their three children were sleeping was the most damaged. They said when they were waken they did not heard a thing, and only after they were up they saw the fire in the house.

The family managed to take the children from the burning room, crossing the burning steps to get to them. The family lost everything that was in the room.

The fire engine was called, but arrived late according to family and it ran out of water. However neighbours helped to put out the rest of the fire.

“Even now it is a mystery what started the fire, but we thank God that nobody was hurt. The children’s room sustained the most damage, while the stairs leading to the room were also damaged. The rest of the furniture was damaged by the water when we tried to put the fire,” said a family member.

The family could not estimate the damage to their house and are still waiting for assessors.
Police are investigating a case of arson.

In the past year more than 10 houses have burned in eMalahleni, while some were not reported to the police.
Two toddlers and a 69-year-old woman died in some of the recent fires. Others survived with burn wounds and some were hospitalised.

A two-year-old girl died in a shack fire at Sizanani Informal Settlement on July 31. She was sleeping alone in her room while her father slept in the main bedroom.

A shack owner survived when his shack caught fire at Old Coronation on August 30. He was badly injured and spent time in hospital.

A one-year-old toddler burned to death in a mysterious fire, while a three year-old girl survived with burn wounds. The two toddlers were burned at Mgababa Hostel in Ackerville on September 7.

A 69-year-old woman died in her new RDP house when her house caught alight in the early hours of October 5. She was staying alone in the house in Thala, Thushanang.

A house burned to ashes in Lynnville on October 14, and everything that was inside the house, burned to the ground. A sickly family member survived and was badly burned and hospitalised.

An elderly couple lost everything when their house burned in Clewer recently.
Three other houses were reported to have burned down in different areas of the city.