WHITE RIVER – Flames were still flaring up 24 hours after fire gutted the top floor of the Bundu Lodge’s luxury-suite wing. It caught fire on Saturday afternoon at about 17:00 after being struck by lightning.
Within minutes, a raging fire was devouring the three-storey building’s top level. For owner Mr Willem Janson, the events of the past 48 hours had been filled with both disappointment and thankfulness. Although the fire department’s apparent initial inability to handle the crisis caused him great disappointment, he was overwhelmed with gratitute towards the community, his employees and those who expressed their support towards Bundu. “I have to thank the fire department as well. Although they weren’t that great at first, we wouldn’t have been able to stop the fire without them,” he said.
Bundu Lodge has more than 100 rooms. Fourty-eight of these are luxury rooms. Thirty of these were affected by the fire. According to Janson, some of the lodge’s guests were having drinks on their suites’ wooden patio when lightning struck. “They smelled that the building had caught fire and evacuated their rooms.
“Other guests followed and the building was vacated within minutes,” he said on Monday. Janson said the most of their guests’ belongings had been retrieved. When clients ended up being without cash as a result of the fire, Bundu helped them out with some money.
A Facebook post on the profile of Gerhard Sue-Mandie complained that the fire department could initially not be reached telephonically. “After numerous calls to the fire department, one truck manned by only two people showed up! It was clear right from the start that these guys weren’t in any hurry.” He said that the firemen were “still scratching their heads” while onlookers and Bundu staff started to roll out the hoses. “They were running around like headless chickens, some falling over their own feet not knowing what to do,” he said.
Janson corroborated Sue-Mandie’s version of events. “When we could finally get hold of the fire brigade – this entailed phoning around and asking for some staff members’ personal telephone numbers – they arrived with a truck. Within minutes, its water had run out. We directed them to the swimming pool, where they could replenish their water reserves.
When you are standing there, watching your building burn down, a situation like this makes you see red,” he said. However, reason triumphed over rage and Janson and his team utilised Bundu’s own firefighting equipment, usually used for fighting veld fires. This helped to keep the inferno from spreading.
Janson couldn’t be more proud of his employees. “At this lodge, we hand-pick our staff. We are like family. On Saturday, the people of Bundu proved that they had nerves of steel,” he said.
He also stressed the fact that they had switched their thatched roof for a Harveytile roof a few years ago. “The roof still had a thatched roof look and atmosphere, but Saturday night’s fire would have eradicated us if we still had roofs made primarily of grass.”
Lowvelder presented Capt Petrus Mtiyane of Mbombela’s fire department with these comments. He said that the White River, Mbombela and KaNyamazane fire departments worked together on Saturday night’s crisis, as the three form part of the greater Mbombela Local Municipality. Mtiyane said that the White River fire brigade received Bundu’s distress call at 17:09.
“The first vehicle, a so-called “pump,” arrived on the scene at about 17:22. This truck would have had a driver and one passenger. A tanker arrived at 17:25 with three more people. A sprinkler would have had crew of six, meaning that the six firemen on duty were all on the scene and had since been replaced by six colleagues manning the base,” he said.
According to Mtiyane, an assessment of the situation was done and assistance called in from Mbombela and KaNyamazane at 17:46. “Again, six-member teams came to the scene and they had to be replaced by six colleagues at each of the respective bases.” At 17:55 a truck from the Mbombela section returned to the city for more water.
The need for water to douse the flames was greatly alleviated by MTO Lowveld, who brought 16 kilolitres to the scene.
Mtiyane said that, according to his knowledge, the fire brigade’s telephones were in a working condition. He said that they had previously been affected by load-shedding. “After this had caused errors with the phones, we arranged to install a back-up generator.
We are in the process of doing so,” he said. Meanwhile, Mtiyane can be reached on his personal cellphone on 071-257-6861 or 083-631-6071.
