Joburg man helplessly watches luxury vehicles go up in flames

A Johannesburg resident looked helplessly on as his luxury cars were razed when his garage caught fire on Friday, January 8.

Unfortunately the fire station closest to him was not open and he was forced to make his way to another fire station for assistance. This has sparked an audit into the City of Johannesburg’s firefighting capacity.

Anand Moodliar’s Porsche and Land Rover went up in flames in the early hours of Friday morning. His helper, who lives in a granny flat on the property, called him at 3.40am to say she could smell something burning.

Moodliar checked his home’s security cameras and spotted smoke streaming from his garage. According to reports by News24, he attempted to get a hosepipe under the garage door but the flames were too big.

He called emergency services at 3.48am, but grew concerned when there was no sound of sirens to be heard. Moodliar and his family reportedly made 10 calls between 3.48am and 4.17am before making his way to the Grayston Drive Fire Station.

When he got there, the guard informed him that it was closed. He then rushed to the Alexandria Fire Station, where the staff were immediately dispatched and were there to tackle the fire within six minutes.

They got to his home at 4.28am, where the fire was then contained.

His Porsche and Land Rover, however, were reduced to husks.

“How do we bring more attention to this travesty?” Moodliar said. “What if it was the Standard Bank building?”

Synock Matobako, who is a spokesperson for Johannesburg Emergency Services, said an investigation has been launched into why the security guard told Moodliar that the Grayston Drive Fire Station was closed.

“It is a well-known fact that the City of Johannesburg does not have enough fire engines to service the city,” Matobako said. “We are in the proces sof procuring more fire engines but this process is taking longer than expected. There are, however, specialised vehicles which are available to assist in firefighting.”

Picture: Supplied