Andre Nel and Tshwane Shift 2
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Anticlockwise from front left:
Andre Nel, Gordon Kuhn, JJ Mahlangu, Collin Kekana, Japie Breytenbach, (absent Joel Mokobodi)
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Burning Building
July 22nd, District Commander Andre Nel and Tshwane Shift 2 firefighters received a call to a burning building. Within minutes of his arrival, Andre assembled two teams of four firefighters and got ready to enter the blaze. They hauled equipment up countless stairs, through darkened corridors thick with smoke and started fighting the flames and escorting people to safety. Carrying 20kg of personal equipment and an additional 30kg of hoses and other gear, each man did his best to battle the fire which, although contained in the garbage shoot, resulted in severe smoke-logging of the building.
At the 16th floor they realised that there were no more hose couplings, so they switched their plan from fire fighting to search and rescue.
As they made their way up the 100m tall building, the smoke grew increasingly thick and they were forced to break windows for ventilation. At the 25th floor they found their first victims. The firemen gave them air from their breathing apparatus and took them downstairs to safety. On the 30th floor, Andre found two children and two women and took them to a nearby balcony so that one of the six helicopters in the vicinity could extract them. That was when he spotted a seven month pregnant woman on the balcony of her 32nd floor flat.
As he was low on air, Andre turned it off to save some for the victim and made his way towards her. He eventually found her with her gown tied to a railing, ready to climb down the building. Andre gave the woman air from his mask and the two of them wet a few towels to reduce the effects of smoke inhalation. They then made their way down stairs, but the woman struggled and refused to move further, due to fear and shock. The woman was now panicking and using a lot of precious air, so Andre moved to a window, broke it and waved to a helicopter with one of the wet towels. The helicopter came closer, blowing fresh air into the building.
Meanwhile, he radioed for his crew to bring door-breaking equipment and more air. They eventually arrived and managed to get Andre and the woman to a position where they could be lifted to safety via helicopter.
Two weeks later the woman gave birth to a healthy baby. For running into a blazing building and saving countless lives, Andre and Tshwane Shift 2 are worthy nominees in the Centrum Guardian Project.
