Clothes donated to fire victims

Action SA organised clothes, food and blankets for a Mamelodi elderly couple and residents who lost their home in a fire recently.

The families, who shared a hostel block room in Mamelodi West, were left homeless with nothing but the clothes on their backs after a fire broke out and destroyed their home on August 8.

The fire ended up destroying three rooms at the hostel block where Phillip Moroke (73) and his wife Mmakaketseng Kakata (53) were staying with two other tenants.

The cause of the fire was a lit candle.

Martha Makete of Action SA said the organisation heard about the fire tragedy and immediately came to help out.

“Clothes and food were donated to the families that same afternoon while other donations were later brought by Abel Tau of Action SA including donations of shoes,” said Makete.

She said they are doing everything in their power to make sure their families got back on their feet again.

Makete said they have started with the process of applying for new ID documents since they lost everything in the fire.

“We also desperately need building materials to help rebuild the three rooms that perished in the fire,” said she said.

Mamelodi hostel dwellers also helped the families by giving them a place to stay in the meantime.

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The drama started when the elderly couple were asleep at around 20:00 and were woken up by smoke and found one of the tenants trying to put out the fire.

The couple said the fire was already spreading and there was no time to grab their belongings.

All they could do was flee. The couple, including the two tenants, lost everything they owned including their clothes, furniture and valuable documents.

Other hostel dwellers tried to put out the fire using water buckets, but it spread too quickly. Within the seconds, the fire had spread to the roof.

Charles Mabaso, of the Tshwane emergency services, warned community members against leaving candles unattended, making open fires, and improperly using izimbawula (brazier stoves), paraffin and gas stoves, or space heaters.

He also advised

– leaving enough space between dwellings;

– not dumping combustible materials near dwellings;

– not sleeping with open heating sources like izimbawula inside a dwelling;

– ensuring that lighting sources like candles are put out before going to bed;

– ensuring that lighting sources like candles are placed away from combustible surfaces when lit; and

– ensuring that open fires are not left unattended near dwellings as they risk causing a fire.

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