A Somerset West couple was left displaced after their home in Bizweni Avenue was gutted by fire on Sunday night (15 January). The incident occurred during the second bout of four-hour load shedding, after 22:00. According to a neighbour and first responder on the scene, the smell of smoke in the air raised the alarm. On investigating, he saw a glare coming from across the street and realised the pensioner couple’s house was on fire. “I immediately rushed over there and found the couple and their rotweiller had already escaped the fiery hell,” the neighbour told DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette when it visited the scene Tuesday morning, in the hopes of talking to the fire victims, but instead found the property locked and deserted. Edward Bosch, a spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services, said firefighters responded to the house fire shortly after 23:00. Altogether 19 firefighters, in four firefighting vehicles and a rescue vehicle, were dispatched to the scene. “On their arrival firefighting efforts commenced to a thatched-roof dwelling that was well alight,” he said. “One dwelling was completely destroyed by fire, while an adjacent one was partially affected. Two people were displaced and one adult male


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