A fire has damaged the rear portion of Knysna & Partners’ offices at 40 Main Street, Knysna.  Nobody was in the building when the fire started.

Knysna & Partners chairperson, Ypie Kingma, said that the fire was reported to the Knysna Municipality’s emergency services at about 7:00 p.m. this evening (Tuesday, 20 September, 2016).

“We were all hugely impressed with the professionalism of fire chief Wayne Sternhof and his crew, and we thank them for bringing the fire quickly under control, and for making sure that the damage was kept to a minimum,” she said.

“We also want to thank the members of the company’s staff who turned out to help, as well as the mayor, Eleanore Bouw-Spies and the speaker, councillor Georlene Wolmarans, who came to provide moral support to the firefighters and our staff.”

Knysna & Partners CEO, Greg Vogt, said that the fire was contained in the rear of the building.

“The whole team is shocked and naturally very stressed, but the damage won’t prevent us from opening for business as usual tomorrow morning, and from putting our best foot forward to make sure that all departments continue to deliver their usual services.”

A further, more detailed report will follow during the course of the day tomorrow.