Fire department out of water, cannot contain house on fire
The owner of the house says the fire hydrant was removed recently when they installed all the new water meters in the area.
ANOTHER house has burned down in Alberton after the fire department failed to take appropriate action.
This comes not long after a previous incident on June 13 in Alberante whereby the fire department also ran out of water. They attempted to use the fire hydrant nearby but it too was empty and subsequently, the owners’ pet parrot died from the resulting blaze.
In the early hours of July 6, a fire broke out in the family home of residents living in Walnut Street, Brackendowns.
The owner of the latest incident badly burned his hands trying to extinguish the fire.
Fox Security and the fire department was contacted and according to the family, Fox was there within five minutes but the fire department only showed up 45 minutes later.
“The fire was in a small area but it had ravaged the entire house by the time the two fire trucks finally came,” says one family member who would like to remain anonymous.
“They started to spray the water but it was soon finished and so the other truck stepped in. Again, no water, so another truck was called and came sometime later but by then we had lost everything,” she added.
The owner of the house says the fire hydrant was removed recently when they installed all the new water meters in the area.
“We’re very thankful to Fox and the outstanding service they gave but they are not firefighters and the people who are supposed to be giving us this service we pay for were standing around and didn’t seem to know what they were doing,” says the frustrated man, coughing from the smoke inhalation.
The City of Ekurhuleni commented on the previous fire by saying that they are investigating and will communicate findings as soon as they have them but we are still awaiting comment regarding the latest incident.
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