By Bev Mortimer
St Francis Bay will rise from the ashes.. this is the viewpoint of the residents of St Francis after last night’s devastating fire.
Everyone is determined to restore the canals to their former glory and people are pulling together to help the town build up again.
Early this morning with St Francis residents still reeling in shock from the fire last night, the blackened ruins of former mansions on the canals has been a grim reality to face.
The damage is estimated to be around R500-million – taking into consideration the average worth of a canal mansion valued at R4-million.
As owners and residents count their losses today – an unofficial estimate puts the number of houses burnt at 120 this morning -and wait for assessors to arrive later this morning, the cost is beyond price. Their possessions, clothes photos – in fact their whole lives were in those houses – all now gone up in smoke!
One of these owners is a devastated Graham Hynes, aka Hynsie, who remarked at his home this morning that this is the second time his house was burnt down. He has lost all his awards earned during his illustrious surfing career. He escaped from his burning house wearing just a T- shirt and his costume, but with not even a cell phone saved from his home..
Firefighters from all over the Eastern and Western Cape came to St Francis Bay last night to assist when they heard how the local fire personnel were swamped by too many houses burning at once .
According to Marc May of NSRI, his fellow volunteers in PE, Uitenhage, Plett, Knysna, JBay and elsewhere joined fire fighters on the ground at the canals to put out the blaze. They were worked tirelessly throughout the night and managed to stop the fire spreading at around 4 am this morning.
St Francis Chronicle joins countless others who also thank them for their tireless work. Also to all those kind souls who offered accommodation free to all the homeless last night.
Updates to follow throughout the day.
Photos in slideshow (except for the one taken of Hynsie by Craig Jarvis of Hynsie), are all taken by St Francis Chronicle
[slideshow]
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZxtiJ9lSdA
http://www.algoafm.co.za/article.aspx?id=4038
See original articles from yesterday:
http://stfrancischronicle.com/2012/11/11/canals-are-burning/
http://stfrancischronicle.com/2012/11/11/canals-on-fire-update/
http://www.algoafm.co.za/article.aspx?id=4020
All articles edited or written, all photos taken plus all adverts designed by the Editor and printed in the St Francis Chronicle are protected by the law of Copyright ©. Reproduction or copying of any part of the contents of this newspaper and its concept and design can only be done with the Editor’s written permission.
My heart goes out to all the residents in this beautiful little haven in our lovely country! Can whoever let us have a fund number so that we as South Africans can put our money where our mouths are and give what ever financial support we can to help these devastated people?
I strongly suggest that a ”Safety Program” which must be monitored be put in place, and enforced.The high risk of living in a ‘Thatch Roofed’ housing complex is much greater than living in the normal building standard type.People must be made aware of the dangers, and the necessary fire fighthing equipment installed in every home,and where it can be made quickly available in times of emergency. To have a braai when there are strong winds blowing is definetly out of the question, especially outdoors. I hope those homes which are still standing will secure safe their braai areas to prevent a future disaster which may easily occur.
It is a miracle that no one was seriously injured or killed………
Just plz rebuild with proper roofs! this happend in Hermanus years ago as well and they changed the building law (thatch) shame on the developers! Very Sad terrible!
The local authority cannot cope with a fire but want to build a nuclear power station? I don’t think so! Why was the St Francis Bay fire station closed down? How long did it take for the first appliance to respond from Humansdorp? My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected by this disaster.
They couldn’t get through to the toaster in Humansdorp, but the kettle eventually replied.
Were the people able to save most of the animals during the fire?
@Tracey Wilid – There should be an emergency plan in place for disasters like these. I don’t think you can compare this to the Nuclear power station situation as the local authorites don’t want to build it but National Government. Be preparted and plan ahead I say
Message of thanks from Johannesburg:
We have watched from a distance how this small community, aided by other concerned Eastern and Western Cape residents, has pulled together in yet another emergency, working tirelessly through the night against a ravaging fire fed by gale force winds to save canal homes and accommodate those whose homes have burned down. Special thanks to Brendon Lahana of Bay Estates, who went well beyond the call of duty and risked life and limb to save our home. We salute all those who gave of their own resources to protect the property of others. The St Francis Bay Community is an inspiration to us all. Our hearts go out to those who have lost homes and precious possessions. We will do all we can to support this community, starting with enjoying our Christmas holiday in this beautiful area.
i heard that there is no actual fire station in the vicinity – you would think with all that water so closeby that there would be a safety officer and neighbourhood volunteers who have training for fire considering all the thatch and even with no fire station that hoses and hydrants would be available near the water’s edge. it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to arrange this and with all the money there it wouldn’t be a bad investment.
Thank you to the St Francis Chronicle for up-to-date information on the fire. I live in Cape Town and have been coming to St Francis Bay for over 30 years for our Christmas holidays. The news of the fire brought tears to our eyes, as the town has a special place in my family’s hearts! It is so encouraging to hear how resilient and positive the residents are – we’ll be there again in 5 weeks time for our annual holiday, with canal or no canal! St Francis Bay needs our support now more than ever! All the best.
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This is really so sad, to loose everything you have worked for. My heart goes out to all those familys affected by the fire. I own a home with my husband and 2kids, and the amount of work time and effort that you put in to make your house a home and then have to watch it go down in flames! Wow that must be really hard to get through.
This is really bad. What should we do to help them?
Hello Hynsie, My thoughts are with all your loss. From Pieter Smit and Family in New Zealand.
I must say looking at those photos, I can see thatched houses around those burnt down that never caught fire……Not to make what happened seem insignificant, this could have been so much worse. Well done to those who worked to get the fire under control
Reblogged this on St Francis Chronicle and commented:
This article was written one year ago – very early the morning after the dreadful fire that destroyed 76 houses on the canals.