'Please help, my daughter is still inside': father's plea as home burns

“Please help me, my daughter is still inside!”

It was this cry for help by a father, gasping for breath on a balcony, that directed a passing city water and sanitation team to where the two-month-old baby was trapped in an upstairs bedroom as flames engulfed his home in Cape Town.

Fagre Davids, 37, who was hospitalised with burn wounds after the infant was successfully rescued, spoke this week about the family's ordeal during the inferno in Heideveld, suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Davids was sitting in the kitchen with his sisters Malieka and Zaidah Davids on November 20 at about 10am discussing plans for the second anniversary of their parents' passing when he smelt something burning.

As he went to check on the source of the smell, he saw that a plug next to three mattresses stacked on top of each other appeared to have caught alight.

"I thought, OK, I can just kill it. And as I brought the mattress into the living room, I tried to kill the flame as there wasn’t a lot of ventilation,” he said.

“The sliding door was open and there's only one exit .... and once I had the mattress in there, things just started escalating. And I threw water, and I started slipping and then my body was burnt.

“I started burning myself. My nose was burnt, my ears, and I couldn't any more.”

Out of breath, he made his way to a balcony and saw the sanitation team, who stopped to help when they saw the burning property. The team had initially been sent to fix a sewer in Athlone but due to a shooting incident had departed for their own safety. And then they spotted the flames.

Some of the city staff went to the back of the house and broke down a Vibracrete wall using their tools, as Davids could not get the keys to let them in, rescuing the adults and three children who were inside. Others broke down a locked gate.

“And as that happened I was thinking, by that time, my baby's gone already because I was burnt very badly. I thought if my two-month-old daughter had to go through that, it would’ve been too much smoke for her. And I started going into shock. I didn't know what to shout any more,” said Davids.

Two sanitation staff members climbed onto the garage roof, broke a window and reached baby Rahma Davids inside the second-storey bedroom.

“We don't even know who carried the baby. But someone carried the baby out of the roof. And believe me, that house was full of flames.”

Once the occupants were all accounted for, the team repurposed the non-potable water stored in their jet combination truck — normally used to clear sewer blockages — to douse the fire.

Collective effort saved the day

Lee-Roy Sheldon, Gideon Tyman, Naziem de Jager, Verona Joseph, Ismail Boer, Quinton Sakala, Faeeza Malherbe and Claudia Josias were this week hailed as heroes by the city for going beyond the call of duty and saving lives.

Fire and rescue platoon commander Donovan Isaacs said: “The water and sanitation crew already extinguished the fire on the floor. They went in with water and broke down windows to kill the fire. They were the heroes of that morning.”

The family's neighbours also sprang into action by calling an ambulance.

There was a moment when I sat there and felt helpless as if there was nothing I could do. I'm just happy that she's OK, and everyone else is OK. Material things you can always get again, but you can't get your child back

—  Fagre Davids

Davids was admitted to Tygerberg Hospital to receive treatment for burns and only properly regained consciousness on November 24.

His wife Radiefa Allie Davids is recovering after sustaining minor burns to her face, while baby Rahma opened her eyes on Tuesday after being monitored in ICU at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.

“There was a moment when I sat there and felt helpless as if there was nothing I could do. I'm just happy that she's OK, and everyone else is OK. Material things you can always get again, but you can't get your child back,” said Davids.

The family said they had lost everything and could not stay in the house.

While the family members are focused on recovering, they were taken aback by the generosity shown by the community — and the water and sanitation team — who donated essential items to help them start rebuilding their lives.

Water and sanitation MMC Zahid Badroodien praised the heroism of the sanitation team.

“Also commendable is the sincerity and care for the wellbeing of the family in their time of need.”

The staff who rescued the family later paid Rahma a visit in hospital with balloons after hearing she was on the road to recovery.

“The humanity of people who risked their lives to go and get the child out of our burning house, I could never have thanked them enough,” said Davids.