ELM has no firetrucks to fight fires
"The ELM should give us answers because we pay rates and taxes for such things."
VEREENIGING. – An eight-room house burned down at the corner of Beaconsfield Avenue and George Street, allegedly due to the unavailability of a firetruck at the Emfuleni Local Municipality’s (ELM) fire station in Vereeniging last Wednesday.
The house, which belongs to Hannie Kolf (47), was left unoccupied after vagrants began to demolish it, piece by piece since Kolf vacated it and moved into a rented room nearby. This occurred after robbers entered the house late last year and robbed her. She was tied up and nearly raped, leaving her traumatised and prompting her decision to move out.
The house was left to Kolf and her two siblings following the death of their father three years ago; he had inherited it from his parents, who had also passed away.
Last Wednesday, Kolf was called by neighbours around midnight about the burning house. Unfortunately, there was nothing she or the community could do as they reportedly called firefighters but received no response. One of the community leaders, Serero Leseane, physically went to the ELM’s fire station, a few streets away from the scene, but was informed that no trucks were available and that nothing could be done.
The house was left to burn to ashes.
Fortunately, all valuable items had been removed from the house by Kolf with the help of community members, as vagrants had begun to steal anything and everything of value to sell for scrap after she moved out following the robbery.
“There is nothing that I can do. I will just have to sit down with my siblings so that we can come up with a plan. But the only thing left is to demolish the building so that we can sell the land to someone who wants to develop it,” said the heartbroken Kolf.
Leseane, on the other hand, believes that the ELM should be held accountable for what happened. “As a community and residents of Sedibeng, Vereeniging in particular, we need answers as to why the ELM does not have fire trucks. What is happening or will happen in cases where we have fires? We know that the house had turned into a criminal haven, but this should not have been allowed to happen. These are human beings. The ELM should give us answers because we pay rates and taxes for such things,” said Leseane furiously.
ELM’s Makhosonke Sangweni said that the municipality acknowledges the fire incident.
“Our fire team was alerted to it. Based on the unconfirmed preliminary findings (in your inquiry), a detailed response will be issued once the Public Safety Department Head tables a report to this effect. We will issue the final comprehensive findings once concluded,” he concluded. The exact cause of the fire is not known.
