The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Photo: Johan Meyer
A six-year-old boy lost his life in a house fire in Florida on Wednesday morning, October 7.
According to City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (CoJEMS) spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi, firefighters were alerted to a house fire at 09:30.
“Two fire engines immediately responded to the scene,” Mulaudzi said.
“Gauteng EMS paramedics declared a six-year-old boy deceased at the scene. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.”
Help24 Secure operations director Quentin Swart was among the first responders on the scene.
The house appears to have been completely gutted by fire. Photo: Johan Meyer
Swart said that upon arrival, he was informed that a child was still inside the house.
“My colleague and I wrapped wet cloths over our faces and entered the house to look for the child,” he said.
“The smoke was simply too much to bear, and we were forced to retreat. When we got outside, CoJEMS had arrived. We entered the house with them and helped smash out windows for the smoke to escape. The child was discovered in one of the rooms.”
Swart added that the scene was handed over to law enforcement once the fire was extinguished.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
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"Johan is an internationally published journalist and editor with extensive experience in news and industry reporting. His work has featured in numerous publications over the years.
He cut his teeth at the Roodepoort Record and Northside Chronicle as proofreader, swiftly progressing to junior journalist. He later joined Randfontein Herald as journalist and eventually worked his way up to becoming editor. During his years away from Caxton, he fulfilled journalist and editor positions for various industry publications at the once mighty Malnor Media House right up to their closure in 2019. This position saw him traveling all over the world on writing assignments. Since 2019, he has worked as a freelancer for various publishing houses, and had a year-long stint as senior editor for a large stable of retail and medical B2B titles, until rapid growth of his own small business required his fulltime attention. At the end of 2023, with his own business now fully staffed, Johan decided to dedicate himself to his first love, working as a local journalist for the good of his community.
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