Two children, ages five and 15, had to jump 15 feet from a gallery to escape from their burning Gasparillo home on Saturday. A neighbour caught Na Jean, but his sister, Shenera, landed on the ground and sprained her left ankle. Neighbours used a ladder to rescue their sister, Shenique, 12.
Despite the prompt response from the fire and police services, the five bedroom, two storey house was completely gutted. The fire started around 4 pm at their Stewart Street home. The children were at home with their mother, Navita Thomas, while their father Sheldon, a launch captain with Petrotrin, was at work.
Thomas, a clerk at a medical centre, said she and her children were cleaning upstairs. She said she was walking down the steps to the kitchen with her son when she saw black smoke. "The whole couch to the wall was on fire. My son ran back up the stairs. I shouted fire."
She said her children knew what to do because every month they do a fire drill. "My eldest daughter grabbed my son and they all ran to the gallery." Thomas said she burned her fingers as she opened a door and ran outside. She said she was watching her children in the gallery and screaming for help. She then fainted. A neighbour Glen Gibson, 71, told the girls to throw their brother to him and he caught him.
Shenera jumped while the neighbours used a ladder to rescue Shenique. Thomas said she and her husband sacrificed to build a life together and a proper home for their children. "We started from scratch. We were childhood sweethearts. I walked out of my parents home with only my clothes because of the choice of husband I took."
She said the children lost all their belongings. Her second daughter, who attended St Gabriels' Girls, is awaiting SEA results. She thanked her neighbours and the authorities for their assistance. The family is staying with relatives. The house was valued at more than $1.5 million. Investigations to determine the cause of the blaze are continuing.
