Florida family struggles to rebuild after devastating fire
The Barnes family is appealing to members of the community to please help them in their attempts to rebuild their home, and any donations would be highly appreciated.
Losing your home in a fire involves not only the loss of your residence, but also many other things of value, most importantly your place of security, comfort, and safety. A fire destroys this sense of security and can significantly disrupt the normality of daily life.
It’s been over two weeks since the Barnes’ home at 97 Kathleen Street, Florida burnt down and the family is still struggling to rebuild their home and lives.
Juanita Barnes told the Record that the storeroom where her husband kept all his power tools, and all appliances in the kitchen pantry as well as the kitchen were completely gutted.
“It was an electrical fire that started at the light switch in the storeroom.
“All other rooms in the house were soiled and all the ceilings, the walls and floors were destroyed,” said Barnes.
The Barnes family is appealing to members of the community to please help them in their attempts to rebuild their home, and any donations would be highly appreciated.
According to Barnes, the fire totally set the family back as her husband lost his job in February and they were already battling financially.
The family who is currently staying at a neighbour’s house down the road has spoken to Ward 70 councillor Caleb Finn to find out how they could be assisted.
Attempts made by the Record to contact Finn were unsuccessful and messages sent to him remained unanswered at the time of publishing.
On Saturday, September 24 Emergency Control SA (ECSA) received a call with regards to a house on fire in Florida.
According to ECSA spokesperson Ian Janse van Rensburg, their team responded and found parts of the house fully engulfed. The team quickly set up and started fighting the fire.
“Our first priority was to ensure that the fire did not spread to the rest of the house and sections not being in direct contact with the fire.
“Members managed to stop the fire from spreading quickly and started working their way to extinguish the rest of the blaze,” said Janse van Rensburg.
ECSA handed over the scene to the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) who then further ensured the fire was completely extinguished.
Their spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi confirmed that the fire was reported to them. “The information I got was that the fire had been extinguished already before our crews arrived,” said Mulaudzi.
