This past Monday, January 15, the first day that educators returned to school, took a turn for the worse when a fire broke out at Erasmia Primary School at around midday, leaving one teacher requiring hospitalisation.
Speaking to the Laudium Sun, Terrance Govender (49), one of the parents who had gone to the school to register his child, related the events, as they unfolded:
"I noticed billowing smoke emanating from the library and rushed to see if anyone was inside. To my utter shock, through the thick smoke, I noticed a teacher in the library and somehow managed to bring her out to safety.
“I contacted the emergency services immediately. The library was engulfed in flames and I just prayed, at the time, that the fire brigade would hurry before the fire spread to the rest of the school.
The emergency services arrived minutes later and it took the firemen about ten minutes to contain and extinguish the fire," Terrance recalled.
"I am just glad that no one was seriously hurt, although the teacher had to be taken to hospital due to smoke inhalation," Terrance added.
ER24 Emergency Services spokesperson, Russel Meiring, said, "A woman at the school was found to have suffered mild smoke inhalation.
Paramedics arrived on the scene to find that the provincial fire services had already extinguished the fire. The woman was treated for her injuries and thereafter transported to a nearby hospital. Fortunately, no children were at the school at the time of the incident. Local authorities were on the scene and will be investigating the matter further."
Tshwane Emergency Department spokesperson, Johan Pieterse said, "There was severe fire, water and smoke damage caused to the library, but we managed to extinguish the fire.”
Smoke billowed from the library even after the fire had been extinguished.
Quick thinking: Parent, Terrance Govender, was at the scene and heroically assisted.