KNYSNA: Remembering the 2017 fires - Jo Davis, Knysna:
How time warps itself into different dimensions – sometimes it feels as if the Knysna fires happened long ago, other times it feels as if it happened a week ago…
A year segmented by emotions and introspection. Initially, pseudo-denial – it won’t happen to us. Then shocked realisation: It is happening to us! Followed by humbling disbelief that our neighbours (who returned a few minutes before us, after evacuation) were busy saving our burning house!
Overwhelming gratitude for their selfless action…
Quenching stubborn flames with a bucket on the upper deck, I fell through the burnt-out deck but managed to grab the last-standing post. Feeling fragile but graced that I survived (skin scraped off the length of my leg, with a cut above my ankle) when a friend, whose house burnt completely, fell down a rented house’s stairs and fractured her hip.
Then the nagging questioning: why was our house the only one in our street to burn? Some of our friends were less fortunate… But on my daily walks with the dog I was greatly dismayed and saddened by the loss of the homes of close friends. Especially so when one succumbed to the effects of this horrific night, which "pushed him over the edge" to his eventual passing.
To cope in this traumatic period, I painted 30 watercolours and wrote the accompanying poems. They were exhibited exactly six months after the fire, at Avopomme.
When a friend remarked that this old house should have burnt, I was immensely grateful that my precious books and photographs were unscathed. I was nevertheless shocked by my sudden jealousy when I heard that an acquaintance had been paid out R-million while his house was insured for R2million.
To cope in this traumatic period, I painted 30 watercolours and wrote the accompanying poems.
The repair process
We are extremely grateful for all the people and the processes concerned, from the assessor and insurance company to the repair contractors. Our 35-year-old solid, timber home was the first one that T&B Timber Homes built. Despite various problems – having to assemble heavy supporting timber beams, because solid ones were not available and glass doors that did not fit and had to be replaced – and their time management programme being greatly disrupted, they beautifully restored our home!
Extremely efficient, professional, friendly and caring, they made the whole process an unforgettable reassuring experience.
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