An elderly Gordon’s Bay resident is bearing the brunt after trees behind her boundary wall caught alight and raging flames jumped to her property, leaving her whole backyard in ruin.
The resident, 82-year-old Yvonne Rawson, recalled being out accompanying a lady friend on errands when a next-door neighbour called to alert her to the fire behind her house.
“It is suspected that the trees and shrubs caught alight while someone was allegedly trying to smoke out bees. The trees must have erupted in flames, prompting the culprit to flee,” a distraught Rawson said.
“We had just stopped at Somerset Mall after [my friend’s] hospital visit when I received the call. I panicked, and drove like mad to get home because only me and my son, who stays with me but was at work, have the keys to the house.
“My whole backyard is decimated. Totally ruined . . . There are bees all over the place, preventing one from accessing the gutted area.”
When DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette arrived on-scene the devastation was clear from Lemoenboom Road, where the trees and a backyard canopy structure, made of wood and fibre reinforced plastic sheets, on the property were mostly reduced to ashes. Fortunately the blaze did not spread to the house in Assegaai Crescent.
According to Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service, firefighting crews from Strand Fire Station responded to an emergency call received after 12:00.
“It seems that the tree was set alight to gain access to honey in the tree, as a lot of bees were present. This then resulted in the adjacent property being partially damaged,” said Carelse.
“The fire was extinguished at 12:42 and no-one was injured or displaced.”
Rawson bemoaned the incident, which led to the undercover back-door area being gutting, along with her beautiful plants which had just started to thrive. “But you know God has His plan,” she related, adding that it was the second fire in recent years.
“Last time the fire was contained to just the trees and shrubs, which at the time alerted us to the potential risks the trees posed to the property. While we considered removing the trees, we were advised that it would be better for security purposes to let it be. But now we will definitely have it removed.”
