A fire that destroyed a residential unit on Mustard Street this past Wednesday morning (Sept 18) has left a family in distress and desperately looking for assistance.
The fire which apparently started at around 7am in the lounge area, spread within seconds to other parts of the building unit. Whilst the Diedricks family was still asleep, alert neighbours saw the flames and quickly responded by opening the door and first rescuing the four children in the house. 48 year-old Rida Diedricks who lived with his wife and four younger children at the home on Mustard Str, with another two older boys living in the back quarters told the Laudium Sun, “We don’t know what caused the fire. We were fortunate nobody was injured.
When the fire started we were lucky to be alerted by our neighbours who assisted my wife, our 4 children living with us in the house and myself to escape quickly from the burning house and take us out, as the flames got bigger and started spreading fast. Community members came in numbers to help to extinguish the fire. It looks like the fire started at around seven o clock in the morning. When we were alerted about the fire there was no time to even put on something and I had to run out wearing my underwear only. Fortunately a neighbour helped me with a tracksuit and a pair of shoes. Community members tried calling the Council’s fire department but apparently could not first get through, but luckily then managed to call them to extinguish the fire. I was terrified and concerned about my kids and wife. We were lucky to survive the fire. We thank God for saving us from burning in the fire. We want to thank all the community members and our neighbors who helped us put out the fire. Our neighbors and community members helped us a lot,” Rida said. He added, “The house which were living in and which was gutted by the fire was owned by my wife’s parents and she has been living in this house for more than twenty years. I do not know what I am going to do because I am unemployed and I only receive a little money from fixing motor bikes to survive. I am worried about
my two daughters who are in matric at Himalaya Secondary School, because it is now their final exam time and all their books have burnt as a result of the fire. I don’t know how they are going to cope because they have lost all their clothes and even their uniforms due to the fire. If there is anyone who can help with their school uniforms and books, we would really appreciate it. We have lost all our furniture and our important documents due to the fire and we are urging business people to help us with donations because we don’t have any clothes and furniture. We are also pleading with the community to donate groceries because we even lost our food due to the fire. We also require donations of building material so that we can rebuild our house. I know we have a generous community and I just hope and pray that my wife, children and I will get the necessary assistance so that we can carry on with our lives. Please help us. We need the help of businesses, religious organisations and individuals.”