Sections of a house in Mbombela were badly damaged in a fire on Saturday February 17 while the residents were away.

This was the second house fire in Mbombela this month. On February 2, a house at 36 Hunter Street caught fire. The house was severely damaged and the family’s two dogs died in the fire.

The latest fire was in Mirvis Street and the house was badly damaged. The owner, Aren van Wyk, explained that they were not in the house when it caught fire, and that they were alerted by one of their neighbours. “They also called the fire department. Right now I don’t even know how much damage there is, and am awaiting the assessor to complete the investigation to determine the costs,” he said.

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Van Wyk said the house was a home with many irreplaceable memories for the family. However, he is grateful no one was injured and that his pets were also not harmed.

“What matters now is that my family is intact, even though our home is gone. We have currently found a temporary place to stay while waiting for the insurance company to do the assessment. I would like to thank all my neighbours who were involved in making sure that the fire was stopped before it destroyed the whole house. The messages of support meant a lot to us,” he said.

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Van Wyk said he and his family would like to thank and give praise to the City of Mbombela’s (CoM) Fire Department for how quickly it had responded and the great job it had done to stop the fire from spreading.

The CoM Fire Department confirmed it had received a call at about 15:15 on Saturday afternoon regarding a house that was on fire. Upon their arrival, the house was already in flames. They managed to extinguish the flames, but sections of the house had by then been badly damaged.