A Vrygrond crèche owner is thankful none of her children were harmed in a fire that destroyed part of the school and her home on Tuesday afternoon.
Faranaaz Johnstone, principal of Rainbow Educare Centre, says: “I was sitting in the office at about 3.10pm doing some admin work when one of the parents, who came to fetch their kids, came to say ‘do you know your building is on fire?’
“At that time, there were still 13 children at the crèche but we calmly escorted them out of the classroom and got them to safety while the fire continued to burn.”
Faranaaz, who lives in the upstairs section of the Vrygrond Avenue building, said the fire mainly affected her home while her downstairs offices were also destroyed.
“It is a complete mystery how the fire could have started because there were no sounds or anything,” she says.
“I was sitting in that office and I did not even smell smoke, if it were not for the parent coming to tell me then I might not even know till it was too late.”
According to Faranaaz, the crèche has been situated at the current address since 2010 but they have been serving the community for 23 years.
“I want to thank every member of the community who came to help us and I was amazed to see that a lot of them were actually past pupils that came to help.
“The cause of the fire may have been a mystery but the fact that nobody got hurt is a miracle and for that I can thank God.”
Fire and rescue spokesperson Jermain Carelse, confirmed there were no injuries while the fire was extinguished at 4.25pm.
“A single structure was destroyed,” he said.