MBOMBELA – A pall of pitch-black smoke towered into the air as JetMart’s warehouse in the CBD went up in flames yesterday at 08:30.
View the gallery of the fire here.
This happened while some Mbombela traffic, fire and rescue, security, and disaster management employees protested at Mbombela Civic Centre.
Although the building was completely destroyed by the blaze, one brave shop owner prevented the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings and shops.
JetMart is situated on the corner of Paul Kruger and Bester streets and the smoke could be seen several kilometres away.
While employees evacuated the warehouse, Mr Tom van Niekerk of Tom’s Auto Clinic, which is right next to JetMart and alongside the Caltex Filling Station, bravely took matters into his own hands to prevent the fire from engulfing adjacent stores.
Van Niekerk was inside the fish and chips restaurant next to his building when the fire started spreading and he saw that one of the gas bottles had already started to burn. “I rushed to the bottle and turned it off before the gas could spill out. “The consequences would have been devastating if one of these had exploded in the fire,” he said.
He then noticed that one of the walls had caved in and climbed onto the roof of the restaurant.
“I did my best to remove all the flammable goods,” he said.
“I only realised later that I was feeling a bit sore. I must have bruised myself while trying to save the day,” he said with sweat still dripping from his relieved face.
“The fire started at the top of the building and I saw a huge cloud of dark smoke that smelled like burning plastic,” said Mr Sipho Nkuna, one of the employees at Tom’s Auto Clinic.
“I then called my boss and we started to remove all the gas bottles and other flammables from the restaurant.”
Mbombela Fire & Rescue arrived on the scene and started putting out the fire which seemed to grow larger and become more devastating with every passing second.
Hundreds of local bystanders and shopkeepers had their cellphones and cameras out and stared in amazement while the searing flames were doused.
According to leading firefighter at Mbombela Fire & Rescue, Mr Greg Fouché, the JetMart staff members were missing when they arrived.
“We went into the burning flames at the back of the shop to monitor the situation. The greatest problem is that the store’s hydrant ran out of water and that took precious time. Suddenly the inferno got out of control.”
After two hours Mbombela Fire & Rescue managed to contain the blaze. Other emergency services on the scene included NetCare 911, Hi-Tech Security, Bossies Community Justice, ER24, and J&M Security. Oasis, which has a branch nearby, provided drinking water to the exhausted and very hot firemen after the blaze was extinguished.
No casualties had been reported at the time of going to press.
The blaze was allegedly caused by faulty electrical connections, however, this had yet to be confirmed.
View the video below:
