A minor controversy surfaced on an Amstelhof Facebook group on Sunday (3 April) following a devastating fire at Jan Groentjie Street, Paarl earlier that day.
The Drakenstein Municipality’s Acting Executive Director of Community Services Ernest Saayman confirmed a house and informal structure fire was tended to by its fire brigade in the Paarl East area.
“Three informal structures were completely destroyed and one formal structure (house) sustained considerable damage,” he said.
Drakenstein Farm Watch’s (DFW) General Commander, Daan van Leeuwen Boomkamp, also reported the fire.
“The DFW received the emergency message from a local resident and took action. The first effort, when a structural fire is reported, is to consult Drakenstein Fire Brigade.”
By that time, he said, the municipal crew was already on their way. “The DFW Fire and Rescue commanders requested via VHF radio whether extra assistance was needed by the Drakenstein Fire Brigade. It was confirmed by the controller that further assistance was ‘not needed’, as they were on site and the fire was ‘under control’. So the DFW teams getting ready were told to stand down by DFW command.”
This prompted an Amstelhof community member to proclaim #DFWmustfall in a Facebook group in reaction to the DFW’s decision not to respond.
“May the DFW be boycotted,” the author of the post said, in reaction to DFW’s decision to declare Amstelhof a “red zone” earlier this year. DFW formally declared the area a red zone following an incident in which one of its volunteers was targeted for theft of a company cellphone.
Many Facebook users chimed into the debate sparked by #DFWmustfall. While some users’ sentiments expressed it is unfair for the entire community to suffer as a consequence of one thief’s actions others were sympathetic to the NPO.
“One bad apple caused our community to suffer, not the DFW,” one user said. “We have to start calling out the guilty minority. Remember, the DFW is a volunteer service and not a compulsory one.”
Van Leeuwen Boomkamp’s response to the controversy: “We offer all these responses for free as a volunteer community service. So if it must fall and people are unhappy we will stay away. Or, we sit around the table and discuss the matter.”
Fires reported over the weekend
Saayman further said a house fire had broken out on Friday (1 April) in Beet Street, Newton. “The house sustained great damage, but no injuries were reported.”
Three grass/veld fires were reported to the Drakenstein Fire Brigade, in addition to another three that had already been extinguished before the fire brigade reached the scene.
