FARRAH Amod of Mountview, in Verulam, and her family watched helplessly as “our first home” went up in flames as emergency teams waited for water to put out the fire.
Amod, who lives less than five minutes away from the Verulam Fire Department, said they had been told by the emergency services that the fire hydrants had no water.
This resulted in a long delay before the fire was eventually brought under control.
Amod told the POST, that a water carrier or “whiskey charlie” as it is referred to, had to be rerouted from the uMhlanga precinct to assist the Verulam Fire Department.
This, she said, was due to the ongoing water shortages in the area, which has continued unabated since the April 2022 floods.
Amod said her first instinct was to grab a hosepipe and attempt to put the fire out herself.
But, she was unable to do that because of the water crisis in Verulam and surrounding areas.
“I cannot explain the feeling of watching our first home burn down. My husband and I bought it together and we moved in, in May 2022, just after the floods. We are aware of the water crisis in the area and that it is going to take some time to fix. We also know that the population has grown and the demand for water has increased.
“But, we literally live up the road from the fire department and nothing could be done to help us faster. There is a water depot on our road and they could have filled up there to ensure readiness in the event of a fire.
“The fire department got to our house and even rolled out a hose. But, after a while they told us there was no water. The people in charge know about the taps running dry but sadly they have no emergency plans in place. How does a fire department operate without water?” asked Amod.
According to civic associations and residents, in Verulam, the situation since the April 20022 floods has not improved – with some areas not having water for more than 200 days.
The Durban Metro Police and eThekwini Municipality did not comment at the time of the publishing.
Bisham Devchand, a Verulam Water Crisis committee member, who was at the scene of the fire on Friday, said: “The tragedy is that there is a fire hydrant a few metres away from the house but due to the current crisis there is no water there. A reliable source has informed me that neither Verulam or Tongaat have their own water carrier, so a tanker from uMhlanga had to be dispatched to Verulam today," Devchand said.
"These are the daily difficulties we face in Verulam."
THE POST