Richard Daws, his wife Lauren, five-and-a-half-year-old Keegan and two-and-a-half-year-old Chanel's caravan caught alight in the early hours of January 2.
The family members were fast asleep, the children inside the caravan and parents in an add-on tent alongside the main tented porch area. Lauren awoke at around 01:00 to the sight of flames reaching 10m to 15m flames in the main tented porch area.
Her and Richard's immediate reaction was to get the children out of the caravan. By the time they had woken the children and taken them out of bed, the flames had spread across their only exit point. Their only route out of the, now smoke-filled, caravan was into the adjacent add-on tent.
Alas, this led them into a confined space with no exterior doorways that soon also caught alight. Richard said that he began to panic because the flames were upon them and due to the built-in groundsheet design of the tent they were in, there was no exit. "It felt as if I was in hell," he said. "We saw death looking at us."
In desperation, already having caught alight himself, Daws managed to bite a hole through the thick canvas and tear open a seam through which the family could make their escape. They ran as fast and as far from the caravan as they could before collapsing with exhaustion and from smoke inhalation.
They watched their entire camp - caravan and associated infrastructure - go up in flames. Gas bottles, compressors, fridges and caravan tyres exploded. All their possessions were burning. The entire caravan park was evacuated as a precaution, but the fire fortunately only spread as far as the Daws' neighbouring camp.
Lauren, Richard and Chanel had suffered severe burns in the fire whilst Keegan was fortunate to escape with only superficial wounds. One of the Daws' neighbours at Keurboom's Lagoon Caravan Park, Bradley Orkin, had realised the gra-vity of the situation and immediately raced young Chanel to the Plett Medi-Clinic for treatment, from where she was transferred to the George Medi-Clinic where there is paediatric unit.
It transpired that Richard was taken to the Life Knysna Private Hospital whilst Lauren joined Chanel in George. Keegan's superficial wounds were treated and he was discharged. Keegan stayed with his grandparents George and Rosemary in The Crags until he could be reuniting with his mother and younger sister. Lauren suffered severe burns to her face, hands and stomach. She was treated in George and has been discharged from hospital and returned to her home in Johannesburg.
Chanel suffered second degree burns to her back, buttocks, legs and feet. She had a skin graft in George, but it was not successful. She was consequently moved to the Sunninghill Hospital Burn Unit in her hometown, Johannesburg.
Richard suffered second degree burns to his legs, back and feet. He has undergone plastic surgery and his skin graft appears to have been successful. He is out of the Intensive Care Unit, but remains at the Life Knysna Private Hospital. He is in considerable pain but this has been controlled with the aid of morphine. He expects to be in hospital for at least another week or two. His road to complete recovery will be a long one; he will need to learn to walk again.
The cause of the blaze remains undetermined, though Daws speculates that it could have been sparked by a Chinese lantern, embers from someone's campfire that were re-alighted as a result of the strong wind or even a simple electrical fault.
Daws said he learned that when caravanning one should check everything and make sure that gas cylinders are closed, electrical appliances are off and that the camp is orderly, before going to bed. He feels that this could make all the difference when faced with an emergency.
For the past seven years, the Daws have spent their annual holiday caravanning at Keurboom's Lagoon Caravan Park. "As a family we love it," he said. They arrived on December 15 and would have returned home on January 5 had all gone as planned. He loves that his children have had the opportunity to be out and about in nature. However, he mused that it was perhaps time to take a break from caravanning for a while.
He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all comforted and assisted the family in their time of need. "Campers just pulled together," he said. Although they have lost many material possessions, Daws is grateful that his family survived this ordeal. "I just thank the Lord for looking after us as a family," he concluded.
Nothing remained of the campsite where the Daws family had been enjoying their holiday until a fire broke out on January 2. Richard Daws bit a hole through tent canvas to allow his family to escape.
ARTICLE: CANDICE LUDICK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
