Malvern’s Victory Park goes up in flames

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, flames filled the air of Queensburgh after a fire engulfed the Victory Park apartments damaging five flats with one person being confirmed dead.

The fire reportedly began at about 1:30am, with the Flame Lily Park Retirement Village buildings suffering from no electricity since last Sunday, according to the chairperson of Flame Lily Park, Chris Craig Mackie.

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“We have not had power here since Sunday, so we suspect that the fire started as a result of someone having lit a candle and accidentally knocking it over. For the time being, we have removed all residents from the affected block. We have engineers and electricians coming over to establish whether the remaining flats can be utilised. If so, we will reroute the power as well. There was one casualty on the night in the form of a 90-year-old woman, however, we do not know the cause of death as her flat was on the other end of the building. She could have passed on from a heart attack or smoke inhalation, but we have to wait for the post-mortem results. Her death could be an unrelated event to the fire. We are receiving goods from residents, however, we have also released documentation, with our letterhead and our banking details for those, who want to donate to the residents, who have lost their belongings and food,” explained the 62-year-old.

Malvern SAPS communications officer, Sgt Sthembile Kheswa, said that an inquest docket was opened.

“A 90-year-old female, Joan Beryl, was asleep in her flat when the fire began. The Fire Department was called in and upon entering her flat, the said female was found unconscious on her bed. An ambulance was called in and she was declared dead. The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage,” explained Sgt Kheswa.

Claude Naidoo of the Malvern CPF spoke to the Rising Sun and explained that he arrived at the scene just minutes after the fire was reported.

He, together with other CPF members, have spread the message of the plight of the elderly residents, in addition to the group hosting a braai for the residents of the complex.

The residents would ideally require blankets, bottled water, tea, coffee, food and so on. For more information, contact Matron Angela Peach on 072-529-7925 or Kevin Pillay on 083-779-0444.

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If you wish to donate to the victims of the fire, please take note of the banking details below:

• Name of account: MESCA Flame Lily Park
• Bank: Standard
• Bank branch: Queensburgh
• Account number: 05 317 3414
• Branch code:  048126