Burnt to a crisp

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KNYSNA NEWS - Yet another fire at the Knysna taxi rank last week caused significant damage to not only fruit stalls at the rank, but to shops across the road too, with storefront windows and signage in particular badly damaged.

The fire occurred at about 06:00 on Thursday 9 February, while many Knysna residents were just getting their day started.

However, those living in the centre of town received a violent and explosive wake-up call, caused by two gas cannisters exploding during the large fire, that burned through fruit stalls at the taxi rank on the Nelson Street side.

Unbearable heat

According to ICliff Militant, a Rastafari elder in Judah Square and owner of one of the affected fruit stalls, he arrived at the taxi rank in the morning to begin his preparations for the day, only to find the stalls adjecent to his engulfed in flames.

"There was so much smoke, and the heat was unbearable," he recalled. According to Militant the fire had started at the fruit stall furthest left, from where it spread to adjacent stalls.

PHOTO GALLERY: Fire at the Knysna taxi rank

He attempted to rescue some stock from the second fruit stall, which belongs to a friend of his, Gaston Fredericks, but was unable to do so. For Fredericks, who is raising two sons, the fruit stall is his only income.

"I lost all of my stock in the fire, thousands of rands in damage," Fredericks said.

Fruit and other food was burnt to a crisp in the fire.

Fighting the fire

While Militant couldn't save anything from Fredericks' stall, he had more time to get some of his own stock out of harm's way, as it is fifth in the row. But his luck lasted only so long - the first gas cannister soon exploded, spreading the fire further down.

"I had to get away very fast; the fire spread so quickly," Militant says.

According to Knysna Municipality's communications department, the Knysna Fire & Rescue Services dispatched five vehicles at approximately 06:29 to battle the fire. The explosions from the gas cannisters caused significant damage to the surrounding stalls.

They confirmed that two 3kg LPG cylinders exploded due to the fire and that, thankfully, no injuries were sustained.

Not the first time

However, one key thing that was pointed out by both Militant and Fredericks is that this was not the first fire to occur at the Knysna taxi rank in recent memory. In the past nine months, four fires have taken place here.

According to Militant, one was a small fire that was put out almost immediately by the stall-holder, who also then repaired the structural damage herself. This would be why the municipal communications department indicated that the fire department is only aware of three fires.

The first reported fire was on 22 May 2022, the cause of which could not be determined. The second was on 28 January this year, and according to the communications department the cause of this fire was arson – more details were not provided on the exact nature. Finally, the most recent fire was last week, and the cause hasn't been determined yet as the investigation is still ongoing.

Issues with vagrants

According to Militant, the leading causes of the fires have been people who hunker down at the taxi rank.

"There are vagrants and druggies who come here to trade and sell their drugs and then sleep here in the evenings, making fire for themselves," he said.

The municipality has however tried to act on this. "The municipality activated numerous actions to remove the homeless from the site," the communications department said.

"A legal process needs to be followed in order for them to be moved to alternative housing. In the meantime, there are two processes that are running concurrently: the Temporal Safe Space and the Shelter that will address the above."

The fire and the associated issues have arguably come at a bad time for the municipality, as next week the Knysna Magistrate's Court is to rule whether or not the municipality needs to forfeit the properties on which the taxi rank is situated to the National Prosecuting Authority. This ruling is expected to come on Tuesday 21 February, a day that could become a landmark day in the town of Knysna and the South African judicial system.

The fire also caused severe damage to two of the holding bays at the rank.