On Tuesday morning, Eben Allersteon and his family lost their home in a fire.
Eben raced home after he received a call at work saying his Roxburgh Road home was burning down.
Eben lives in the garden cottage at the back of a property with his wife and two children – a three-year-old boy and a baby girl of only three weeks old.
The fire started between 8.30am and 8.50am.
He claims residents phoned the fire department at 8.50am.
After three attempts they were able to get through to the department, but they claim the fire department only arrived about 55 minutes after the initial call.
When they arrived, the fire fighters allegedly struggled with the hosepipe and the owner of the property had to help them.
The owner also had to kick down the door himself as the fire department had difficulty opening the door.
The fire was extinguished before it could cause any further damage to the rest of the property.
Residents commented that the house could have been saved had the fire department arrived sooner.
They add it is hard to understand the lengthy response time since the station is a mere 4km from where the fire occurred.
The spokesman for the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services was not available for comment at the time of going to print.
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