Hamilton Avenue blaze melts windows, no injuries
When the Brakpan Herald arrived on the scene, the roof was still smouldering.
Just before 11:00 today (June 30) a fire broke out at a Hamilton Avenue home. This is the fourth house fire in the last month in Brakpan.
On June 22, four-year-old Wanru Meyer died in a tragic blaze at his Queen Avenue home. Another fire occurred along Queen Avenue on June 18, in which firefighters extinguished the blaze. There were no injuries.
On June 4, a house burned down, causing R40 000 worth of damages and leaving a family without a home. No one was injured in this latest blaze, but the fire was intense enough to melt the windows of the room where it started and shatter the windows of surrounding rooms.
When the Brakpan Herald arrived on the scene, firefighters were still in the building, checking its structural integrity.
Some were on the roof, which was still giving off heat and smouldering. Sarel Engelbrecht, who was on the pavement collecting printed paper for his business, initially reported the blaze.
He called Maria Schutte from Guardian Angels First Responders NPC. Others also reported the fire in a first responders’ WhatsApp group. Security companies were on the scene in four minutes to cordon it off.
Multiple people reported the fire to Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS), and the fire department arrived in 13 minutes, according to Drummond Doig, one of the first responders.
A heater possibly started the fire. The Brakpan Herald recently shared winter safety guidelines from DEMS, which advise against leaving fires or heating appliances unattended.
More information on these safety tips can be found in the article. Comment was requested from the City of Ekurhuleni DEMS district manager and liaison, but none was received at the time of publication. More information will follow.
