Durban South community rallies around family who lost child in fire
The Durban South community has rallied around the family of a five-year-old girl who died after her Montclair home caught fire.
One of those lending a hand is the Musallah-e-Dawood organisation.
"They actually took it upon themselves to house them, feed them, they took them to buy clothes for the kids, nappies, blankets, there is also property for them to go and stay in," says the organisation's Shawn Smith.
Police say the house caught fire at around midnight on Wednesday while the family was asleep.
The mother and her older child managed to escape.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined and an inquest docket has been opened.
It was the second house fire in the area in the space of a week.
READ: Montclair father recalls moment family escaped burning home
Smith, who is the chairperson of the Montclair Crime Prevention Forum, says a number of factors could have played a hand in the fire.
He says some houses in the Durban South suburb are very old.
"People have to be more vigilant because what they don't understand is the old houses, when they ran wires through the roof and in the floors, they didn't use trunking like we do these days.
"So those wires are very exposed. People need to be aware that they shouldn't overload systems because otherwise, we will have more fires going around.
"They are just popping up all over the place, so you have to be careful and also with the load shedding, I think that causes a huge on the circuit and then that is what causes the overload as well."
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