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- Zane Fouten (12) perished in a devastating fire that swept through his Montague Village home on Monday 26 February.
- The fire started in the early hours of the morning.
- He is described as a joker who had crept into everyone’s hearts.
Debris and a brick circle are the only evidence of a home that was once shared by a grandmother and her three grandchildren.
The bricks mark the spot where Zane Fouten (12) perished in a devastating fire that swept through his Montague Village home on Monday 26 February.
“It is very sad,” local resident Marlene Bailey said, “having seen him play on Sunday and then on Monday to see his body being collected.”
Living in the same street as the family, she said the children of the neighbourhood had taken the loss very hard.
“The pain of losing one of our children in a fire is indescribable. Zane was one of our house children; he was in my daughter’s class for two years. This fire took us back to a year ago, when others were also hurt in a fire and we never got over the pain . . . it is too much.”
Describing the boy, Bailey said he was a joker who had crept into everyone’s hearts.
“He was the type of child who also had a lot of respect. My daughters are very traumatised and hurt.
“Teachers at their school ensured learners had a counselling session because every person feels the loss.” Recalling the morning of the fire, Bailey said she woke up to shadowy red figures appearing in the early hours of the morning.
“The fire started in the early hours of the morning.
“At the time, I only saw red and I thought it was perhaps the TV that wasn’t switched off so I got up immediately.
“When I switched the lights on, I saw the TV was off and the red flames were coming from that family’s home.”
While the rest of the family managed to get out in time, the teen succumbed to his injuries.
“His 16-year-old brother tried to save him from the flames . . . He managed to drag Zane to the front door but then the door fell onto his hands.
“It was so sad, the flesh hanging from his hands and Zane dying at the front door.”
An attempt to save his brother’s life will forever be etched in the teen’s mind. He was still in hospital after suffering the severe burns.
Jannicke Parsley (38), a next door neighbour, was luckily not home at the time of the fire.
“My husband and I were with a friend, walking home when we learned of the fire. When we arrived our place had been destroyed . . . we lost everything.”
An orange tent pitched next to the site is the couple’s new home while they hope to rebuild.
“A friend gave us a tent, so we set it up next to the tree,” Parsley said. “We don’t want to be a burden to other people by moving in with others, so we prefer to sleep in the tent. But we do need material to rebuild.”
In a social media post, Hillwood Primary School expressed its sadness over the loss of one of its learners.
“We, the staff and learners of Hillwood Primary School would like to express our most heartfelt condolences to the Fouten family on the untimely passing of Zane.”
Community leader Mark Nicholson remembered the boy as someone who loved nature and books.
“He was the clown in the class, so there were times that he had to come to our after-school programmes for disrupting the class with his jokes. He was a good listener, always laughing and happy even if you made him angry.”
The loss of a young life is very painful, he said. “I’m so sad, despite having his challenges he was an amazing boy. I’m heartbroken.”
