Disaster as fire brigade sleeps

After several unanswered phone calls a Louis Trichardt (Makhado) citizen rushed to the fire department one evening recently to alert firefighters about a fire in the town. The entire fire brigade and the person in the control room were found fast asleep. n desperation town residents called Fritz Ahrens of the Trichardt Farmers’ Union at around 11:30pm. By the time Ahrens arrived the fire brigade was on the scene but had not started fighting the fire. Eyewitnesses say firefighters were “fumbling” with water valves and pumps. They then found that there wasn’t enough water in the truck. Another fire truck was summoned, but was useless as its pump was broken. The thatched-roof house and its contents were burned to ashes. Ahrens urged residents to join the town’s taxpayers’ association, saying the fire brigade was only one of many services that had completely collapsed over the last seven years. – Staff reporter