An Empangeni family had a close call with a house fire last weekend, which was quickly contained with help from their neighbours.

According to the Zululand Observer, Phakamani Mabaso (53) recalled that his family was alerted to something burning at around 20:30 last Saturday.

His wife, Ziphozethu Mabaso (50), smelt something burning but couldn’t find what it was.

“…but we couldn’t see it. We switched off the lights. There was no flame, then suddenly there were flames coming from the ceiling,” said Phakamani.

“We threw a bucket and another one. We screamed for help and the neighbours came. They responded very fast,” he said.

“Without them…,” said Ziphozethu, who trailed off, with her young daughter Sethu (9) standing close beside her. “Fortunately we were not sleeping. I don’t even want to think about it.”

Next-door neighbour Johan Horn was relaxing at home with his family, playing cards, when he heard Sethu’s call for help.

“I heard a small child shout, ‘Please help us!’ So I ran to the stoep assuming someone was attacking them, but their house was on fire.”

He jumped over the wall and discovered their geyser had burst, leaking onto electrical wires.

“I told them the first thing was to switch off their power. The family was frantic and rushing left to right. Phakamani told me afterwards that he’s so glad someone came to keep him level-headed.”

Johan’s brother Ferdinand and nephew Juan de Kock also rushed to help. Johan tried to use a hosepipe, but the water was just trickling.

“Someone gave me a full bottle of water and I was standing in the dining room, just throwing. It doused 80% of the fire.”

The Empangeni Fire Department arrived shortly after the blaze was contained and assessed that there was no further risk.

However, the miracle of the story is that the neighbours weren’t even meant to be home.

Ferdinand was visiting from France and Juan was visiting from Johannesburg.

“We were supposed to be on a church camp this weekend, but everything was blocking us to go – we think this was the reason.”

Phakamani said: “We are grateful to our neighbours, we really appreciate their help.”

In case of fire emergencies, contact the Empangeni Fire Department on 035 907 5723.

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