Fire damages family’s home in Phoenix
Man rescues mother-in-law from an inferno
DESPITE the flames and the smoke, Warren Naidoo managed to rescue his mother-in-law from a fire at their Phoenix home on Thursday.
The family’s three-bedroomed duplex caught fire in the morning, due to an alleged electrical fault.
Faizi Subramony, 53, a machinist, was still asleep in her bedroom.
Naidoo, 29, was standing outside the home.
His wife Melinda, 27, their children, aged 7 and 5, and wife’s sister Luveshni Subramony, 31, were visiting their grandmother who lived next door.
They were watching the morning news for the latest information on Covid-19.
Luveshni said Naidoo had gone into their home to fetch a lighter, when he noticed one of the bedrooms was on fire.
“We heard him scream and then we heard glass shatter. We ran next door but there was too much smoke. We could not get to the bedrooms. But Warren managed to open my mother’s bedroom door and got her out.”
She said her mother was in shock. Luveshni said as they were trying to escape, the roof began to collapse.
“They both fell but they got up and got outside.”
She said while some neighbours called the fire department, others tried to douse the flames with buckets of water.
“They tried their best to put out the fire, but only the firefighters were able to do this.”
Luveshni said her mother and Naidoo were treated for smoke inhalation, and she believed an electrical fault had caused the fire.
“All our belongings were burnt. “Our clothing, the children’s toys, school uniforms and books – everything
is gone.
“All we have left are the clothes on our backs.”
She said they could not live in the home until the roof and other repairs were done.
The family have since moved in with the grandmother.
“Her home is attached to ours, so her bedrooms were also damaged.
“We have nowhere else to go so, at night, we sleep in her lounge. “The children are traumatised because they saw everything.”
Luveshni’s father, Rajan, 51, died in December after a heart attack.
“This is the second blow to us in four months. With the lockdown, our lives have become much harder.
“My sister and I are not at work. We might collect a portion of our salaries from the Unemployment Fund but it is not certain.
“We don’t know how we will rebuild our lives.”
Captain Nqobile Gwala, provincial police spokesperson, said the cause of the fire was being investigated.