Cable theft and vandalism may have been responsible for a fire which destroyed two homes and a small business, leaving ten people, including two children, homeless at Bayshore, Marabella, yesterday morning.
Lynette James, 49, her two children, ages 29 and 22, husband, 65-year-old mother and her two grandchildren, six and 11 years old, lived in one of the houses.
Junior John, his wife and 19-year-old daughter lived in the other house, but they were not at home when the fire started.
Alanis Alexander, 24, who operated the small food business, was also not around when the fire started.
James, an Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) checker, recalled that sometime after 1 am, her daughter, Lakeisha, 29, got up to give her six-year-old son medication and saw the wires near the electricity pole sparking.
“She woke us up. By the time she came out the house next door was already on fire and ours was on fire on the roof. We had to exit through the neighbour yard,” she recalled.
By the time firemen arrived about 30 minutes to an hour later, the homes and business place were already engulfed in flames.
While no one was hurt, she said they lost all their belongings, including the children’s school supplies.
“We lost laptop, tablet, we lost clothes, fridge, stove, my mom lost all her medication. She is a diabetic,” she lamented.
James said they recently bought a new stove and got new cupboards.
Her 11-year-old grandson is awaiting his results from the recently-concluded SEA exams and her other grandson recently started school at San Fernando Boys’ RC.
While they have sought temporary lodging at a friend’s house, James is appealing for help in securing an HDC home and any other assistance.
“We would like if we could get a little assistance. We will really like if we could get a house so we could relocate and any assistance for the children to go back to school and to help us out clotheswise, because everything was lost in the fire,” she said.
While investigations are still continuing into the cause of the blaze, she said people have been cutting cable in the area.
“As far as we know, in the area they cutting cable so we don’t know if they went up on the pole and may be they cut something wrong,” she said.
John, 50, a security officer/school dean, said he was planning to do renovations on the house but they did not always stay there.
His daughter stays with her mother while he and his wife sometimes stay at a relative’s house. They were not at home when the fire started.
“We lost everything, all our belongings,” he said.
John said 20 years ago, he applied to HDC for a house and he is hoping that now, under these dire circumstances, they will expedite his application. He estimated his losses to be $100,000.
Alexander, a CEPEP worker, said she sold food but she was also staying at the business place. However, she has a another home.
Former councillor and community activist Jennifer Marryshow, who visited the families, said the situation was very unfortunate.
“We lost three houses in the area. It could have been more and people have to stop what they are doing that is illegal and try to do the correct thing so that we would not have that situation again in the area,” she said.
Marryshow said councillor Michael Johnson and San Fernando West MP Faris Al-Rawi will be visiting the families.
She was confident, however, that the families would get assistance through the Bayshore Housing Project which was launched by Al-Rawi two years ago.
Marabella police, T&TEC and the Mon Repos Fire Service are continuing investigations into the cause of the blaze.
Anyone willing to assist James and family can contact them at 713-3294, while anyone willing to assist John and family can call 760-5803 and 324-3358.
