No water to douse house fire: Dad dies of extensive burns
DRY taps cost a Tongaat man his life and his pensioner “mother” was left with only the clothes on her back, after their home was gutted by a fire last Friday morning.
Despite two fire extinguishers in the low cost housing complex, Renuka Singh, 78, of Pension Cottage, in Plane Street, was helpless to contain the fire because there was no water at the time.
Singh’s “son”, Steven Govender, 59, died of smoke inhalation and extensive burns.
Govender had moved out of his Buffelsdale home, where he lived with his wife and children, after a domestic dispute.
In an interview with the POST on Monday, Singh said she was outside her house, planting a Tulsi tree in the garden, when she saw “thick, black smoke coming out of the window”.
“Steven was inside the house and I shouted for him. I also called on my neighbours for help. By this time the flames were coming out of the front door and windows. A nearby neighbour, Kogie, came to help. She managed to pull Steven out of the bathroom and dragged him to the courtyard,” said Singh.
“Sadly, within seven to 10 minutes, the entire house was gutted. I lost everything. It is all gone,” she said.
Neighbours described Govender’s injuries as “gruesome” and said he had suffered extensive burns to his head, face, neck, back and arms.
They said Govender was in shock by the time he was brought outside.
“His entire face, ears and even his neck was black from the fire. You could just see the pink from his lips. His entire body was shaking. His head was burnt. His hair was gone. One his hands, he had burns almost the size of the old R1 coins. It was painful to look at,” said a neighbour known as Dinah.
“He was conscious when he came out of the house. We tried to take his clothes off but the paramedic told us not to touch him. We just poured cold water over him,” she said.
Govender was transported to a local clinic for treatment before he was taken to the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Memorial Hospital, in Ntuzuma, where he later died.
One of his four children was with him at the hospital.
His sister Salosh Naidu described him as “humble and a joker”.
“He had a complicated relationship with his family. That’s why he lived with Renuka. He was trying to make amends with his family. We were looking forward to celebrating his 60th birthday in December,” Naidu said.
She added he loved horseracing and “for the Durban July, we knew who to get tips from”.
Singh said her son was 29 years old when he was killed and Govender had supported her emotionally.
She said they fought a lot but she enjoyed caring for Govender.
“I loved to eat my vegetable food, especially on my fasting days and Steven loved meat.
His favourite food was chicken curry and rice with pickles. He was like a son to me,” said an emotional Singh.
“He used to work at Pension Cottage, doing maintenance work. That is how we met some 20 years ago. When he had problems with his family, he needed a place to stay. I allowed him to live with me. He used to visit them but I think he felt at home here, with me” Singh said.
With just the clothes on her back and a plastic packet with some documents, Singh said she did not have the strength to pick up the pieces after the fire.
With no furniture, clothes or money, Singh must now rely on her social grant of R2010 a month to rebuild her life.
She said Govender’s death had also taken a toll on her emotional health.
Since the fire, Singh had been moved to New Pension Cottage, which are rental units owned by the eThekwini Municipality.
Ward 61 community activist and a caregiver for residents at New Pension Cottage, Shantal Nair, said the city needed to step up and solve the water crisis.
“There are two fire extinguishers, just outside Singh’s home. On the day of the fire, there was no water. Her house could have been saved and Govender would probably be alive if the taps had not run dry that morning,” said Nair.
She said water outages were a daily problem in Tongaat.
She claimed the fire engine only arrived about 20 minutes after the fire had started.
In April, a Verulam family suffered a similar fate, when a fire at their homes could not be extinguished because there was no water at the time.
Bisham Devchand from the Verulam Water Crisis Committee said the fire at the Mountview home could have been contained if the city had disaster management plans in place during water outages.
“There is a fire station in Verulam and it's fairly new compared to others in the city. This water crisis has been going on for years now and the municipality is fully aware of it but they have no plans in place to address such disasters.
“They could have housed a water tanker in Verulam, in the event of a fire. Sadly, this family had to wait for a fire truck from Umhlanga to assist them.
A firefighter on duty told me there was no water in the fire hydrant,” Devchand said.
The owner of the home said they had to stand back and watch helplessly as the fire engulfed their home on April 15.
“The garage and its contents was gutted. This was what we used to earn a living. There was about R250 000 worth of damages to the building and the contents.
“I'm sure that some of the damages could have been avoided or the fire could have been put out earlier, if there was water in Verulam on that day. The firemen unrolled a hose that day and then realised there was no water in the hydrant. They then had to call for help and it was about 20 or 25 minutes before another truck came with water,” she said.