Residents in the neighbourhood of 11th Avenue, in Laudium were in a mode of panic after fire caught alight at one of the nearby properties, last Thursday at 1:00 in the afternoon.
The fire which started at a granny flat at the back of the home, destroyed the building, but fortunately, no one was injured. Waqas Hussein, a neighbor of the burnt flat, told the Laudium Sun, “Whilst at home, I smelt smoke, at first I thought it was coming from my house, but when I went out, I saw smoke and huge flames coming from the neighbor’s side. I called out to them, but no one was responding. I then sent out messages on various Whatsapp groups, requesting assistance for the fire to be put out. I was terrified as the flames were fierce and I thought it would catch the front of the house or even spread to my house.”
Nadia Taole, a tenant at the out-building on 11th Ave which caught fire, said, “I was asleep when the place above me, which was used as a storeroom, caught fire. I smelt smoke and fortunately that woke me up. There was a lot of smoke, I could not even breathe. I took my children and ran outside, I do not know exactly what caused the fire, but it started at the store room above my place. I know the building was having electricity problems and sparks were coming out for the past few months. I even reported this to our agent, that this place had an electrical fault. Last week they sent an electrician to check the problem, but the guy said that he will come back again, but he did not return. The fire spread quickly and even destroyed my place. I have lost everything, my clothes, children’s cloths, books, furniture and food, and what’s worse, I bought the groceries yesterday (August 18) and all is gone. I do not know what I will do. If anyone could help with old furniture, clothes and food, they may contact me on: 065 990 7553.”
Co-tenant, Hasina Taole, said, “The fire started in the storeroom and it was vacant at the time, I don’t know exactly what happened, as I was at work. I left my sister with the children. It is very distressing that the fire had destroyed our lives, as the fire had destroyed all our belongings. We have to start afresh now. I’m grateful though that no one was hurt. Life is more important than any material things in this world.”
