Members of the Monte Vista Plattekloof Glen Neighbourhood Watch and private security officers had to act swiftly last week when two fires broke out along the N1 highway.
Deon Oosthuizen, neighbourhood watch vice-chair, and District Watch shift commander and armed response officer, Albert Oberholzer, were the two individuals first alerted to a fire underneath the Monte Vista bridge, before being alerted of a second fire further down the highway.
We made our way to the bridge and found that the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services had also arrived on scene, who then proceeded to extinguish the fire, explains Oosthuizen.
They left, and a few minutes later received another call that someone was concerned about a fire behind their house, he says.
“We found that another fire was burning on the N1 behind Westerwijk Avenue, Plattekloof Glen,” says Oosthuizen. The two proceeded to break off some branches from a bluegum tree and started dousing the flames. They also requested assistance from the fire department.
“Some of the motorists and residents stepped in. We started filling buckets of water and got the one section under control. When the City’s fire and rescue arrived, they quickly got everything under control,” says Oosthuizen.
He adds: “We were told that a well-known vagrant started the fire and this information had been sent to the police.”
The neighbourhood watch is requesting residents to report any suspicious behaviour to the police (10 111) or to call the City’s emergency number (021 480 7700) to prevent such incidents from occurring.
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