‘Father tried everything in his power to save boy’

A devastated father’s attempt to rescue his three-year-old son went in vain after a fire engulfed their home in Nomgqokwana Street, Mlungisi at about 11am on Tuesday.

It was reported that the father was sleeping in the same room where his child was watching TV when he was woken up by heat coming from beneath the bed. It is still unclear what caused the fire and police spokesperson captain Namhla Mdleleni said investigations were under way.

Speaking to The Rep, Asaxola Ntetha, a next door neighbour, said he was about to take a bath when he realised there was commotion outside. “One of the community members told me to bring water, that’s when I saw the father of the child trying to break one of the windows to rescue his son.”

Ntetha said hysterical cries of the helpless boy echoed from inside the building. “The father could hear him crying, calling ‘Tata’. We tried to bring in more water, neighbours had assembled and tried to break doors open but the fire was blocking every entrance. The guys who tried to break the door struggled to breathe and there was no way for them to get in. The father of the boy tried everything in his power to save his child.”

Sad scenes played out when the mother of the deceased boy arrived still wearing her work apparel, sobbing uncontrollably and in disbelief. The child’s grandmother collapsed at the scene.

The neighbours said a second fire erupted at about 2am but they had managed to put it out as a collective out of fear it would spread to neighbouring houses. Damages were incurred at the two adjacent houses.

Outraged community members who brought buckets of water from their households to help extinguish the fire blamed the municipality for failing to assist.

We called the municipality and we were told that there were no trucks and no water. We called for an ambulance because the father of the child was injured and covered in blood. Sean Russell came to our rescue and a truck came. There was no councillor or ward committee at the scene. They have no care. This is too much we have had enough,” said a group of residents who were standing outside the burning premises.

These are people who are responsible for service delivery, what exactly are they servicing all they want are our votes,” they added.

Resident Aphelele Jacob who had lost hope in the municipality called for the local authority to be dissolved. “We do not have a municipality. We tried to put the fire out for almost two hours with no response from them. We do not have water, we have nothing.”

One of the volunteers who assisted in extinguishing the blaze said upon arrival at the scene the community already had the fire under control but battled to put it out in the last two back rooms.

Community policing forum public relations officer Jaun van de Walt confirmed the boy’s death.

Richard Burmeister of Red Guard Security, who was at the scene, said: “The Red Guard control room received an alert and had contacted volunteers to assist in the fire. The call came through quite late. That actually made it more difficult for them to fight the fire. By the time we got to the corpse it was already far too late because the fire spread so quickly and unfortunately we could not get there in time,” said Burmeister.

Van De Walt added that the municipality or whoever was in charge should be charged for culpable homicide.

The fact that they do not have a fire truck to facilitate a fire puts a community in a dangerous position. If they had a fire truck that could have responded, I believe that this possibly could have been a different result but unfortunately by their lack of care and procedures that have not been followed the community has now lost a child. That is my personal opinion on this matter. If I could I would have whoever that has not signed the order to get that truck out locked up.”

The three volunteers who attend to these fire emergencies work without any protective gear and had taken the decision to be a helping hand in a community very much in need of their services.

There was a need in town for people to step up and do the work. The fire truck has been on repairs for two and a half months and with no one servicing the whole of Komani. We have house and business fires and if it was not for these guys who use their own resources, from their own pockets this whole town would burn down. They all have permanent jobs but took the decision to get involved and help the community. Some of them are already CPF members so we fight crime and we fight fire,” Van De Walt added.

The group, made up of Benny Dorflin, Hanes Olivier and Raymond Heueur, currently has three vehicles to respond to fire incidents and had indicated that they would have to start with fund-raising initiatives to get more vehicles on the road. They also wanted to thank their employer MMG Nissan and MMG Toyota for allowing them to take time out and respond to emergencies in the community.

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa said the fire incident was reported at the municipal call centre and fire fighters were dispatched to the scene. “Volunteers who work hand in hand with the Municipality came in and assisted with their machinery to help extinguish the fire. The fire engine is expected back early next week. It is regrettable that a life was lost in the incident,” he said.

Mdleleni said an inquest docket had been opened.

 

 

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