FIRE!!!!

Last night was a crazy night to say the least. On the last night a team is with us here at Thrive, we usually have a bonfire to celebrate their time here with us and fellowship together. Last night due to the windy and blustery conditions we decided to have the fire in the restaurant around the fireplace. The fire was started around dinner time, and just as the team was finishing their meal, a real fire started. No, I don’t mean in the fireplace…THE BUILDING CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!!! The roof was on fire (here at Thrive most roofs are thatch/grass). Not exactly the bonfire we were hoping for. Anyways, everyone got out of the building and immediately started efforts to put out the fire. We grabbed every bucket we could find and started a bucket brigade. Many people went up on the roof and the rest of us formed and assembly line, passing buckets of water up to them. A group of us went into the part of the building that was not on fire and removed all electronic equipment and anything else we could grab. Water alone wasn’t working so every fire extinguisher on base was tracked down and utilized. Even that didn’t quite work. We also used water tanks with hoses attached to them. We have a couple here on property for if anything like this ever happens, but a nearby farmer also brought another one. As water in the tanks ran low, we formed an assembly line to refill them. The windy conditions, although much calmer than earlier in the day, made efforts to put out the fire that much harder and kept kicking up embers. Early on, the fire department (fire brigade here in SA) was called, but since this is Africa and Harrismith only has one fire engine, it took them quite a while to get there. When they did get here, they didn’t do a whole lot. What firefighter is afraid of heights?!?! The ones here apparently. They used their hose and helped to quench the fire a little bit but would not go up on the roof where the fire was. So, our guys did most of the fire fighting themselves. With harnesses and ropes, a couple guys latched onto the roof as they ripped off and drenched burning thatch. After about 4 hours the majority of the fire was put out but there were still burning embers in the roof that were sparked up by the wind every once and a while. But our guys worked hard and didn’t give up. Everyone definitely came together last night and did their part. There were people filling and passing buckets, holding ladders, fetching blankets for those who were wet and cold, making tea and coffee to warm people up(it was freezing, literally the temps were in the 30’s), holding spotlights and flashlights, and doing whatever needed to be done. Eventually the fire was completely put out and contained to the restaurant’s roof. Praise the Lord!!!! And praise God that no one was injured!!!

Here is a picture of the outside of the restaurant this morning. Thank God it was contained mostly tothe upstairs and the roof.

Please keep Thrive Africa in your prayers, as we begin the long clean up and rebuilding process.