Two passers-by rescued a two-year-old girl from an inferno that tore through her grandmother's Grahamstown home in Lombo Street, Tantyi, on Tuesday 14 January.
Two passers-by rescued a two-year-old girl from an inferno that tore through her grandmother's Grahamstown home in Lombo Street, Tantyi, on Tuesday 14 January.
Siyamthanda Joja was plucked from the flames by Mvuyisi Mange and Solomon Mthana. The friends found her crying and stranded in the passage of the blazing house.
The two men were walking down Lombo Street when they saw a cloud of smoke rising from the roof of a house. It was the home of Gladys Jodwana, Siyamthanda's grandmother.
“We rushed to the house but the gate was locked so we trespassed and jumped over the fence. My friend Sol kicked open the front door, while I went to check at the back," Mange said.
When Mange approached the kitchen door, he was greeted by a hysterical Siyamthanda.
“I took the child to the secured area near the garden. By then, neighbours had started trickling in, helping to put out the flames,” he said.
Jodwana, 73, said she was sleeping in her room and had left her granddaughter playing on her bed in the other room.
The fire started around 4pm, according to Jodwana.
“I don’t know how it started.
"Siya was playing peacefully on top of her bed and I went to mine for a nap," she said.
Jodwana was awakened by the noise of the impact as the rescuers smashed the door.
She said now she is struggling to make ends meet after losing everything in the blaze and has to live on handouts from neighbours and relatives.
The fire destroyed food supplies, a stove, a refrigerator, two TV sets, two beds, sofas, clothes, an electric meter box and appliances.
In a separate incident, a fire broke out the following day at the Dr Jacob Zuma Drive home of Xoliswa Sondlwana.
According to Sondlwana, she had asked her granddaughter to smoke out the swarm of wasps in her back yard toilet.
“She came running back, screaming, 'grandma umlilo' (fire) and when I went to observe the fire was burning the grass."
Luckily for the pair, the fire burnt only the grass on her property. This was thanks to a quick response by municipal fire fighters, who extinguished it before it could spread.
Makana spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo confirmed the two incidents and urged residents to be extra cautious with fire and electrical appliances.
Ramokolo said fire fighters have been unable to determine what caused the fire in Lombo Street.
