Community pulls together to extinguish blaze
The community of Krugersdorp showed what they are made of when they pulled together to extinguish a house fire recently.
The Krugersdorp community came together to help a neighbour during a house fire in Engelbrecht Street in Oatlands on Thursday, 22 November.
The fire started in one of the three garages on the property. With swift work, it was contained and did not spread too far into the main house and a flat that are connected to the garages.
One of the residents told the News that they were out and while driving back they could see the smoke but only realised that it was their house when they turned into the street and saw all the vehicles.
A source told the News that one of the neighbours belongs to the Community Policing Forum (CPF) Sector 5’s radio group and when he noticed the smoke he phoned several patrol cars for assistance. They called in the help of Sector 3 CPF and as many emergency services as they could get hold of. JC Fire sponsored them with a bunch of fire extinguishers and a small water tank was brought in. People worked together by carrying buckets of water and made sure the tank was filled the whole time. The Watch Tower Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) also arrived with their fire truck to assist.
After the worst was over, members started cleaning out the debris and remained busy until 6.30pm on Thursday evening.
It is reported that a generator had a malfunction and that two people were injured in the process.
One person, who sustained severe burns to his legs, arms and neck, was in a critical condition and was airlifted by the Netcare 911 helicopter.
The other patient was transported to the Pinehaven Clinic by Emer-G-Med with moderate burns on his arms and legs.
The task of extinguishing this fire fell to the community since the employees of the West Rand District Municipality (WRDM) have been on strike since 13 November. Employees downed tools after it emerged that their benefits had been deducted from their salaries but were never paid to the third parties. This means that employees do not currently have medical aid, pension and so forth, even after paying for it.
Add to that the fact that they often struggle to get their salaries and frequently do not receive the full amounts due to them, and it makes for an explosive situation. Even if the fire brigade wanted to attend to the fire they could not, because this is a union strike, and they are not ‘allowed’ to respond until their wage negotiations have come to an end.
There are also allegations that the municipality’s service providers have not been paid in months and that services are not being rendered to the municipality.
It seems that talks aimed at getting the WRDM employees back to their posts are under way. For now, however, the community must help by reporting issues to their Ward councillors, who will report it to their superiors. Hopefully the situation will be passed on until someone in government fixes the problem.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at krugersdorpnews@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
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