Part of the accommodation block at the Saldanha Military Academy was damaged in a fire last weekend.
A fire broke out in the women’s wing after the power returned after load shedding on Saturday 12 August. Saldanha had scheduled load shedding from 10:00-12:00. Speculation that an electrical fault caused the fire could not yet be confirmed.
On Wednesday, Col Sibongile Hlabana told Weslander that they are still awaiting the formal incident report from the Saldanha Bay Municipality’s fire department.
“We will only know the cause of the fire after receiving the report from the municipality’s fire department.”
According to an unofficial page for alumni of the Academy, the SAS Saldanha Naval Base’s fire brigade also assisted in putting out the fire.
It also mentioned that Lt Col Morné Booyjens and other members of staff and students ran into the burning building on Saturday to try to resolve the situation.
Some occupants of the bedrooms lost all their personal belongings, such as clothes, books and computers, in the fire. The students started a test series last week.
The extent of the damage is still unknown, and as far as could be determined, no one was injured in the incident.
