A substantial community effort in Fairfield, St Michael, could not save two houses from being razed and three more from being damaged.
When a NATION team arrived at the scene of the blaze around 1 p.m., firefighters could be seen still battling the fire in an effort to save the nearby houses as the inferno had already claimed two homes, despite starting just 30 minutes earlier.
A shaken Sophia Jaimangal, who lived in the larger of the two homes with five family members, said the fire started at her next-door neighbour’s house and quickly spread to hers.
What made the ordeal more difficult for the Jaimangal family was the fact that the home was renovated just a few months ago.
“I just realised I smelt smoke and when I looked through my bathroom window I realised the house next door was totally engulfed and mine would’ve already caught,” Jaimangal said.
“There wasn’t really much we could’ve done and I recently renovated my home, it would’ve recently painted and stuff. The house caught quickly and everything was gone,” she lamented.
“When I got out there, the older house was on fire and we couldn’t do anything to save that one. So we were trying to see what we could do to save the blue one,” one man called Spooner said.
“I just saw the smoke and I ran up there and the family like they were in shock, so I just went and tried to help them get things out of the house,” another resident who went by the name “Sam” chimed in.
Both said they were lending a helping hand but had to retreat when the heat and smoke became too much to handle. Other residents were seen filling up buckets and some helped the fire officers with their hoses.
Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael West Central, James Paul, and Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate for the area Ian Gooding-Edgehill, both offered their sympathies to the family and said they would be assisting them in getting back on their feet.
The number of people who were displaced was unknown up to Press-time. (AD)
