An anguished family wept in horror as flames enveloped their home yesterday, killing their seven-year-old daughter.
Alicia Petersen, a Grade 1 pupil, was asleep alone in a wendy house on her family’s Valhalla Park property while her mother, grandmother, great aunt and brother were having breakfast in the main house.
Lizelle Hoop, who is the family’s neighbour as well as Alicia’s mother Gretchen’s cousin, said she had been asleep and had been woken by screams.
“I could hear her mother call out her name and realised that the house was filled with smoke. I grabbed my baby and went outside,” said Hoop.
Neighbours rushed to the house and used hosepipes to try and extinguish the flames, but their efforts were in vain.
“Some people climbed on the roof of the wendy house and managed to break part of it open but they were pushed back by the intense flames and heat. They could see Alicia huddled in a little corner but they couldn’t get her out,” said Hoop.
The family’s pastor, Rodger Chetty, said: “Alicia’s four-year-old brother saw the smoke and fire as he was on his way to the wendy house and alerted his mother.
“The family tried to push open the window to the Wendy house but the flames were too high and they could only stand and watch,” said Chetty.
He described Alicia as “a jolly little girl”.
The fire department and police were called to the scene while neighbours continued to battle the flames.
Bishop Lavis police spokeswoman Captain Marie Louw said: “Around 9.15am flames and smoke were seen coming from the wendy house at the corner of Simons Street and Agnes Street.
“(Alicia) was asleep inside. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire, although it is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.” By the time firefighters managed to halt the blaze, Alicia was dead.
Her family wept and hugged each other. Their house and wendy house, as well as a neighbour’s house and Wendy house, were destroyed by the fire. A third house and wendy house were damaged.
- Cape Argus
Alicia Petersen, a Grade 1 pupil, was asleep alone in a wendy house on her family’s Valhalla Park property while her mother, grandmother, great aunt and brother were having breakfast in the main house.
Lizelle Hoop, who is the family’s neighbour as well as Alicia’s mother Gretchen’s cousin, said she had been asleep and had been woken by screams.
“I could hear her mother call out her name and realised that the house was filled with smoke. I grabbed my baby and went outside,” said Hoop.
Neighbours rushed to the house and used hosepipes to try and extinguish the flames, but their efforts were in vain.
“Some people climbed on the roof of the wendy house and managed to break part of it open but they were pushed back by the intense flames and heat. They could see Alicia huddled in a little corner but they couldn’t get her out,” said Hoop.
The family’s pastor, Rodger Chetty, said: “Alicia’s four-year-old brother saw the smoke and fire as he was on his way to the wendy house and alerted his mother.
“The family tried to push open the window to the Wendy house but the flames were too high and they could only stand and watch,” said Chetty.
He described Alicia as “a jolly little girl”.
The fire department and police were called to the scene while neighbours continued to battle the flames.
Bishop Lavis police spokeswoman Captain Marie Louw said: “Around 9.15am flames and smoke were seen coming from the wendy house at the corner of Simons Street and Agnes Street.
“(Alicia) was asleep inside. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire, although it is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.” By the time firefighters managed to halt the blaze, Alicia was dead.
Her family wept and hugged each other. Their house and wendy house, as well as a neighbour’s house and Wendy house, were destroyed by the fire. A third house and wendy house were damaged.
- Cape Argus
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