Firemen have blamed power outages for their phone lines being down after five buildings around a family home in Gonubie’s Mzamomhle township went up in flames late on Sunday night.
The Jako family’s home survived destruction but shacks on the same property were gutted.
On Monday the family told the Dispatch they had called the local fire department but could not get through.
A neighbour resorted to calling fellow Gonubie resident and community activist Amanda Timms, who responded by calling a firefighter on his cellphone.
Timms said: “Residents called me alerting me to the fire. They also posted on our WhatsApp group.
“I made calls to the fire department and I could not get through to them; their phones were down.
“I phoned and woke up a firefighter that I know. He was off duty but he phoned his on-duty colleagues who responded.”
Andiswa Jako, who was asleep in the main house, said: “It was 11pm and we had load-shedding in the area. I was woken up by noise and I thought people were fighting outside. When I checked outside all I saw were flames.
“I woke up the children and the elders, and took them outside. Neighbours came in numbers to assist us in trying to put out the fire.
“We had to break the windows in the house to take the furniture outside. The fire was moving fast, and we were unable to save the furniture and other belongings inside the shacks.
“The fire department arrived and found that we and our neighbours had managed to slow the fire by hosing it with water.
“There was smoke everywhere. When we asked why they had arrived only after midnight, they said since there was load-shedding their phones were down. But they did manage to douse the fire.
“We could not sleep and we stayed up on watch. The fire began again at 4am and luckily neighbours were about and helped again to douse it.
“The five shacks in our yard, one used as a church, are all gone. The main house has no windows and traces of flames on the side walls.”
Sivuyile Jako, Andiswa’s brother was left with only the clothes on his back after his shack was destroyed.
“I was woken up by my partner and I saw that there was fire. I ran outside to fetch a bucket of water to try to put it out, but it was no match for the flames.
“The clothes you are seeing me in now are the only clothes I have. My work uniform and phone were destroyed. I will be going to work with these that I have on me.”
He said he had no idea what had caused the fire.
BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya confirmed that there had been a problem with the generator at the fire station.
“It is concerning. The generator, which has had to work overtime due to load-shedding, is faulty, and we are trying to get a service provider to assist us in terms of repairs for it.
“That is why telephone lines were affected.
“Currently, there are no other means to communicate directly with the fire department, and we urge the public to contact us via our Call Centre, 086-111-3017, until further notice.”
DispatchLIVE
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