House gutted, fire truck never arrives

THEY had no official fire-fighting training, no protective clothing, no proper equipment and no water supply to the town, but…Concerned Vryheid residents, together with the dauntless heroes of the Neighbourhood Watch (NHW), did whatever they had to in order to put out a house fire on Commission Street last week, despite the risk to themselves.

The unavailability of water, due to the supply to the town being cut off during the drought, meant that water had to be fetched at the communal water collections points in tanks on the backs of residents’ bakkies, and brought to the site of the fire.

Despite several frantic calls to summon the fire department, the fire truck never arrived.
Contrary to AbaQulusi municipality’s spokesperson, Arnold Ramodibe’s, insistence that “AbaQulusi has a fully-fledged and fully functional fire department,” it has since come to light that the municipality purchased a new fire truck in 2013 but has no staff designated to operate it.

NHW chairperson, André Rheder, said when he got to the fire just before noon on Thursday, there was thick smoke coming out of the roof, and it appears as if that is where the fire may have started. “The occupants of the house were not at home. I believe they are contractors who often travel out of town for work,” began Mr Rheder.

“I called LinkUp and asked that they send the fire department. They told me a fire truck was on the way. We waited a bit, when the fire truck didn’t arrive, we got in touch with some of the people we knew distributed water with their bakkies and asked them to come. Flip, who works at the municipality, also came with a bakkie, and one traffic official stopped to help us block the road and divert traffic. By about 2.20pm we had managed to put the fire out ourselves but at 3pm, when we left, the fire truck still hadn’t arrived.”

Mr Rheder said he felt absolutely hopeless, watching the house being gutted by flames, despite the effort being made to contain the fire.

LinkUp staff said they had been assured by municipal officials that the fire truck was on its way every time they called to follow-up.

Tokkie Britz, one of the residents who assisted by transporting water to the fire, said she had been attending a funeral when she was called upon to fetch water.

“I filled the tank on my bakkie and got there as soon as I could. There was no fire brigade and I also realised that there were people who had gotten into the house to try and extinguish the flames and no-one had thought about switching off the electricity supply to the house. The people that went in there risked their lives and I really think we need trained, professional people to fight fires. With the drought, we are really under pressure and I am afraid that there will be a fire that will be much worse,” said Mrs Britz.

In the past, AbaQulusi’s traffic officials also responded to domestic fires. They received extensive training in order to fulfil this purpose. However, they have recently been informed that they are only expected to act as traffic officials, and not as fire-fighters, as this is the position for which they were hired. Consequently, traffic officials are no longer assisting the municipality with this vital function.

It is believed that the Superintendent of Logistics was requested to step in to assist in the fire department. Fortunately, he is a qualified fire-fighter but has no support staff and may not be in the position to respond in an emergency. Three members of AbaQulusi staff, a librarian, a cashier, and a painter, have received fire-fighting training, but none have been appointed as a fire-fighter, and they are all still occupying their pre-training positions at the municipality.

The vacancies for the fire department are yet to be advertised.

“We just need the right people with the heart to do the work,” implored Mr Rheder. “There is a traffic official who has been doing it all along who has a passion for being a fire-fighter. Let’s not let politics and racial issues get in the way of keeping our town safe,” said another resident who asked not to be named.

The fire station was found to be completely deserted and locked up during a visit by the Vryheid Herald this week.
In the event of fire, residents can call LinkUp on 034 980 8872 and the Neighbourhood Watch on 087 808 3508 for assistance, and then… pray.

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