Prompt action by the fire department prevented a fire at a scrap yard on Thurday 5 September from getting out of control.
Prompt action by the fire department prevented a fire at a scrap yard on Thurday 5 September from getting out of control.
Two cars were destroyed in the fire which swept through the yard of Dhinsda Scrap Metal, at 1 Victoria Road, around midday on Thursday 5 September.
While owner Devinder Singh said he didn't know what had started the fire, one of his employees suspected a leaking petrol tank had fuelled the blaze. “We were working on the other side of the [yard]when we saw flames. We brought out the hose pipe and tried to put it out,” Singh said. He said the flames spread quickly through the long grass in the midday heat. Fortunately, fire fighters arrived quickly to douse the blaze.
His assistant, Mongameli Vusani, said a leaking petrol tank had caused the fire to spread more quickly. “The petrol tank exploded as fire fighters were sprinkling water over the burning cars and grass,” Vusani said.
Singh said he was not sure how much damage the fire had caused. “I do not know how much money I lost," Singh said. "But two old cars were damaged. One is a 1985 Renault and the second is a 1996 Mercedes Benz.” He said it was impossible to estimate the value of the cars had because this would be determined only once they had been crushed and weighed at a scrap-metal operation in Port Elizabeth.
Singh was grateful to the fire fighters and said, “If they had not come on time, things could have been worse.” He said he was also grateful that there were no injuries. Even a puppy and its mother living on the premises had escaped unharmed.
