Wild fire takes almost 10 hours to put out

After a fire erupted at the North of the old municipal shooting range at approximately 10:30 yesterday (14 August), a group of firefighters, members of the defence force as well as volunteers spent almost 10 hours to put it out. 

According to Eric Stoch, North West fire protection association, a preliminary report indicated that the fire may  have been started by bystanders. “The lack of manpower, as well as the fact that the department of water and sanitation and Eskom do not have fire breaks, made our job even more challenging,” Stoch said.

“Employees from the J.B. Marks fire department are doing their job well, but the fire department does not have adequate resources nor do they have enough trained manpower,” Stoch added. 

Stoch said apart from the old shooting range fire, there were six other fires that were happening in Potchefstroom alone. “It was impossible to attend to the other scenes because of lack of resources. We need more equipment and training,” he lamented.

Fortunately no people were injured in this fire.