Niël Terblanché
THE residents of five backyard shacks that burned to the ground in the Tutaleni neighbourhood of Kuisebmond in Walvis Bay are facing a bleak Christmas in tents.
The devastating fire is believed to have started in one of the shacks when a pan in which one of the residents was frying fish, caught fire.
According to Dennis Basson, the Chief of the Walvis Bay Fire Brigade, the fire started at around 21:00 on Tuesday evening. He said the fire spread rapidly to adjacent shacks.
“Our firefighters managed to quickly bring the blaze under control and prevented more shacks from catching fire and also burning to the ground. Luckily not a single person was killed or injured during the incident,” he said.
According to Basson, the damage to the shacks was severe. He added that charity organisations and the office of the Walvis Bay Mayor visited the site of devastation on Wednesday morning to assist the victims, who lost all their personal belongings in the blaze.
Basson said five households were given tents for temporary shelter. He added that the victims also received blankets, mattresses, and food parcels.
Thie Fire Chief urged residents of Walvis Bay, especially those living in shacks to take more caution and to always take into account that a fire may break out at any time.
He also requested residents that do experience an emergency such as a fire, to always call the Fire Brigade as soon as they can in order to limit the damage caused by fires.
