Sol Plaatje Municipality dismisses shack fire allegations

THE SOL Plaatje Municipality has dismissed allegations that its emergency services personnel are to blame for any negligence in connection with a shack fire that claimed the life of one person (see Page 12).

The fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Galeshewe.

The family of the victim said on Wednesday that they intended to lay a complaint against the firefighters who, they said, had arrived late on the scene, and failed to see the burnt body of the victim lying next to the door.

The gruesome discovery was made by the niece of the deceased, Ivan Ndlovu, who was last seen by his family a few hours before the fire broke out.

The family and the community said on Wednesday that they were unhappy with the service rendered by the firefighters, who, they said, informed them that there was nobody inside the shack during the fire.

It is alleged that by the time the fire brigade arrived the community had already extinguished the flames.

According to municipal spokesperson Thokozile Riet the team did not arrive late.

“It is not true that our fire department took hours to arrive at the scene. The call came in at exactly 24:18, the fire brigade left the fire station at 24:22. They arrived at the scene at 24:32 and by the time they arrived the fire had been extinguished already,” said Riet.

She also dismissed claims that the team had failed to find the body and said they were informed by a family member that the owner of the shack might have run away.

“On arrival, the officer in charge asked one woman who was at the scene where the person who stays in the shack was. The woman responded that ‘she doesn’t know, she heard that the man ran away’.

“Our officers went inside the shack with their torches where there was a lot of rubble and hot ashes. They did not look for the body because they were told the man had run away,” explained Riet.

“The officers responded immediately, as soon as the call came in, so it is not true that they were late.”

Riet stated further that the cause of fire was a candle and that it is suspected that the victim might have fallen asleep while the candle was still burning.

“The man was staying alone in the shack. It is possible that he fell asleep with the candle burning and it tipped over.”

Expressing heartfelt condolences to the family, Riet also urged members of the public to be careful during this time and to ensure that they extinguish candles before they go to bed and do not leave paraffin stoves unattended. – Boipelo Mere