Durban - A KwaZulu-Natal family was left homeless after their house was gutted in a fire on Wednesday morning when one of the occupants attempted to heat up water on a fire due to the ongoing power cuts.
Responding private security and medical emergency teams from Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) said they arrived on the scene just before 7:30 to find the home engulfed in flames.
The family’s home was situated in Trenance Park, just west of Verulam, in the northern parts of eThekwini.
The homeowner told Rusa that one of his daughters was boiling water on a braai stand when a piece of plastic caught alight and flew inside the home.
From the images provided online, the windows of the home appeared to have been cracked due to the heat.
Firefighters from the Durban Metro Fire department were on the scene battling the blaze.
“Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) were called out to the property at approximately 07:27. On arrival, Reaction Officers found the home engulfed in flames. According to the homeowner, his children, aged between 11 and 23, were at home at the time of the incident.
“One of his daughters was in the process of boiling water on a braai stand in the yard due to a power outage when a plastic packet caught alight and flew into the house. The fire was extinguished on arrival of the eThekwini Fire Department,” Rusa said.
The blaze comes in the wake of the constant power cuts by the country’s state-owned utility company, Eskom.
The Durban area sustained major damages to its infrastructure after the recent flooding which swept through the province twice, in April and May.
IOL