Residents of Emerald Street, and the surrounding area, worked tirelessly to extinguish a raging fire that consumed part of a house, but, little could be done to save it from being engulfed by the massive flames.
According to residents of the house, two rooms of the 4-bedroom home, which is situated near the corner of Emerald Street and 13th Avenue, were burnt to ashes this past Wednesday (February 28). The house is rented to a number of Pakistani nationals (about 8 in total), who had taken up residence in Laudium after arriving on South African shores. The front garage is used as a tailoring business.
A resident at the compound, a Pakistani national known as Aslam Khan, told the Laudium Sun that the fire started in one of the bedrooms inside the home.
Aslam said that he did not know for sure what caused the fire but suspected there might have been an electrical fault from an appliance inside the room where the fire emanated from. He did not rule out the possibility that it might have been caused by one of his housemates who could have left a hot plate unattended, which resulted in the massive flames.
The fire had spread to two rooms of the house before the community managed to contain it. All the contents within those areas, including furniture and clothes, were destroyed in the blaze. “Sadly, under the pretence of assisting to extinguish the fire, some glue boys, took advantage of the situation and stole a few household items during the turmoil.
“We called the firefighters at the time but they did not pitch up. We had to rely on the community to help us put the fire out. Some of the police officers from the Laudium police station came to help us extinguish the fire too. We're not sure how much, in terms of monetary value, we have lost in the fire as yet,” Khan said.
The shaken resident confirmed that no one had been injured when the rooms caught ablaze. “We are relieved that this happened during the day. Three males, a female and two children managed to run out of the house as soon they saw the fire,” Aslam concluded.
Laudium police spokesperson, Constable Samuel Chokoe, said no case had been opened regarding the fire, at the time of going to print.
Laudium SAPS at the scene, helping to extinguish the fire in one of the bedrooms.
Smoke still billows from the Emerald Street house in Laudium, where two bedrooms caught alight.