Man rescues family from burning house

A man is being hailed as a hero after he recently rescued an elderly woman and her three grandchildren from a fiery death. They had been trapped in their burning house.
Mr Ian Wagenaar is an ADT sales consultant who works in Mbombela, but lives in Barberton. He heard screams from his house on the night of Friday November 29. When he went outside he saw smoke billowing from the roof of one of the nearby residences. Upon closer inspection he heard screams again and realised that people were trapped in the house.
All the doors were locked, and Wagenaar bent the bars of the safety gate at the front door until it broke, presumably also from being melted by the heat. He then kicked the door open and entered the house to find the woman and her three grandchildren, including a baby, huddled in a corner. He ran in and led them through the smoke and flames to safety.
The ambulance and emergency services were called to the scene. One of the children sustained burns to her right hand and Wagenaar had some on his hands and torso, but no one was seriously injured. The cause of the fire is suspected to be a short circuit in the electrical box of the house.
Mr Mike Kidson, managing director of ADT Northern Region, said fires could occur unexpectedly and he recommended that home owners and businesses install fire detectors and have extinguishers handy.
“A carbon monoxide fire detector is a safe, effective and unobtrusive way of protecting a home or business against the danger of a fire,” he said. “It acts as an early detection of a fire hazard. The detector will not pick up a naked flame but rather smoke or a smouldering fire.”
To prevent a similar incident, Mr Robin Guveia, branch manager of ADT in Mbombela, said home owners should ask a qualified electrician to check the safety of electrical boxes and appliances.