Mother and son escape fire

The car was completely gutted.

A Table View woman and her son have escaped unscathed after her car caught alight and gutted her garage.

On Tuesday afternoon, May 22, at 3.50pm, Danielle du Plessis pulled her Nissan Juke into her garage at home in Pentz Lane. Also in the car was her 4-year-old son.

Ms Du Plessis said the car would not turn off and the next thing she knew the car was in flames. She managed to get her son out of the car and a few minutes later the car and garage were enveloped in flames.

“A few neighbours and members of the Table View Neighbourhood Watch managed to contain the fire in the garage which thankfully is not attached to the house,” said Ms Du Plessis.

The entire garage and everything in it were burned to the ground, including Ms Du Plessis’s husband’s motorbike.

Ms Du Plessis’s mother, Melodie Potgieter, said she was astounded by the support of the neighbourhood watch, the fire department and neighbours.

“People came together like nothing I have ever seen before. The care and concern and general helpfulness and support were something to behold.

“To all of you who were at the scene, thanks. A simple thank you is highly inadequate, but it is really sincere and heartfelt.

“Most of all I would like to thank a little girl in a Table View Junior uniform. She must be about 10 years old. She came over to me and said, ‘Don’t worry auntie, my daddy is a firefighter and I phoned him to tell him that the auntie’s house is on fire. He will be quick’. What thoughtfulness in one so young and how perceptive of her to see just how traumatised I was,” said Ms Potgieter.