The fire damage to shops in Vanderbijlpark’s CBD would have been considerably less if emergency services had responded to repeated calls sooner.
During the night, a fire broke out in a bed shop on the corner of Attie Fourie and Paul Sauer Streets and spread to adjacent shops, including a hair salon. Everything in the shops has been destroyed.
The owner of the bed shop informed the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) that, after being notified of the fire, he struggled for nearly half an hour to get hold of the emergency services. No one answered the telephone.
When the fire brigade finally arrived, the roof of the hair salon had already begun to collapse. None of the stock could be salvaged.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, the tardy response amounts to serious negligence and dereliction of duty. The party has already sent a letter to the Fire Chief, Mhlengi Makhubalo, demanding an explanation as to why the emergency calls were not responded to immediately.
