Husband fights house fire after battery explosion

For the past decade, the Brooklyn family has been living in Twelfth Avenue, Northmead, with dad Ross and his sons building on their collection of hobby helicopters and RC cars.

After locking up and settling in for the night on December 7, the family of five could not have predicted that they will have to vacate their home in the early hours of the morning, as their upstairs entertainment area and hobby room erupted in fire.

According to Kelly Brooklyn, her husband had woken up at 03:00 and was on his way to the kitchen when he heard a loud bang.

“Given the spate of house breakings in our area, Ross immediately woke me. He suspected that intruders were in the upstairs room and told me to alert CMS,” she said.

“We stayed within the confines of our rooms, waiting for assistance.”

Upon their arrival, CMS called Kelly and notified her that there was no sign of intruders, but that the family needed to immediately vacate the house as a section was on fire.

“The panic that set in was surreal. I immediately ran to my 11-year-old twins, Keagan and Oakley, who had three friends over for a sleepover,” she said.

“I had my daughter Kendra (2) with me. Leaving through a back door we sat the children down on the far side of the property.”

Once all the members of the family were safe and accounted for, CMS informed Ross and Kelly that Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services were not going to respond to the call.

“The operator at the call centre allegedly told the CMS member that the Rynfield Fire Station was closed and that Benoni’s engines had no water,” said Kelly.

“Realising that no help was on its way, Ross and neighbours coupled every hose pipe we could find to the outside taps.”

Unable to access the room that was on fire from the staircase, Ross balanced on a ladder, breaking windows and feeding the hose pipes into the room.

“The process took incredibly long as we do not have the equipment nor expertise to fight a blaze. However, the flames were doused,” Kelly said.

“Nearly 45 minutes after placing a call to the DEMS call centre, a fire engine arrived and firefighters confirmed that the fire was thoroughly extinguished.”

It is believed that the blaze may have started due to a remote control car battery that had been charging and subsequently exploded.

Faced with more than R200 000 worth of damage, it is further suspected that the surges caused by load-shedding had overloaded the charger.

According to DEMS media liaison William Ntladi, firefighters from Boksburg’s Leon Ferreira fire station responded to the Northmead call.

“Upon arrival, crews found that the flames were extinguished already,” said Ntladi.

He could not confirm the call centre agent’s claims but stated that according to operational procedures and protocol, fire engine tanks are immediately filled upon return to the fire station to be ready for further emergency calls.

ALSO READ: Make fire safety a priority during load-shedding

ALSO READ: Nightclub indefinitely closed following fire