Left with minutes to get out of Paradise
AT around 5pm on Wednesday, Susan Campbell answered a call that made her hair stand on end.
“It was from my friend in disaster management. She said: ’Get out. Get out of Paradise.’ ” Campbell only had time to grab a toothbrush, a nightie and her laptop. By the time she pulled her car out of the driveway her neighbour’s house was on fire.
The caller was talking about the hilltop suburb of Paradise, one of Knysna’s many breathtaking neighbourhoods laced with forest and overlooking the estuary. These were the suburbs hardest hit by the fire carried by gusts of up to 100km/h.
It happened so quickly that most people were taken completely by surprise.
“I was talking to my son on the phone, saying the house is totally fine,” said Campbell. “But as I’m talking to him I went out onto the balcony and saw this massive cloud of yellow smoke. I said: ’Yoh, this looks worrying.’ ”
Still, she thought she had time. She started gathering a few important items, expecting she may only have to leave in a few hours. Then came the call telling her to evacuate — quickly.
“They said the fire was moving 1km a minute. It really was like one of those disaster horror movies, but it was actually happening.”
Once in her car she retreated to a friend’s home on one of the residential islands in the estuary, with thousands of other displaced residents.
A sleepless night followed, the town all but engulfed in smoke and many areas without power and phone connections.
When Campbell returned, it was as if to the scene of a large explosion.
“Nothing, nothing, nothing — it was surreal,” she said. “All the neighbours’ houses and mine were gone.”
Her bakkie, which she had parked a short distance from the house in case it exploded and damaged the house, had melted, leaving behind solidified trickles of metal.
“You get perspective when things like this happen,” said Campbell.
“I’m one of the lucky ones. I have somewhere else to stay and I have insurance. What about the people who don’t?”