Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

With­in a mat­ter of min­utes, Sta­cy George and her fam­i­ly lost their home in Hin­dus­tan, New Grant and every­thing they owned in a fire.

While grate­ful that she, her hus­band, Tas­san Chat­ter­goon, and their two chil­dren—a two-year-old girl and a sev­en-month-old boy—es­caped un­hurt, the 27-year-old moth­er is now plead­ing for as­sis­tance from the gov­ern­ment and the pub­lic to help re­build their lives.

The fire oc­curred on Tues­day around 6 pm.

She re­called that they had just re­turned from her in-laws’ home, lo­cat­ed at the front of their home, and she was about to pre­pare din­ner.

She said, “I was about to cook, and as soon as I put down the chil­dren, as I light the stove, every­thing just blow up and the fire start.

“It get out of hand quick. I had to grab the chil­dren and run out­side. I lost every­thing. A new brand stove now pay off, every­thing lost. All the mon­ey I had sav­ing. I don’t know how we go­ing to start back now.” George, a house­wife, and her hus­band, a sales rep­re­sen­ta­tive, had been liv­ing there for six years.

George said she was not sure what caused the fire, as she did not de­tect any gas scent be­fore the in­ci­dent, which would have in­di­cat­ed a leak.

George said they had re­cent­ly paid off the in­stal­ments for their fur­ni­ture, in­clud­ing a couch, stove, fridge and two beds.

“Every­thing gone, every­thing,” she lament­ed, adding, “All the mon­ey I have home sav­ing, I was now go­ing to start the front (of the house), and I don’t know how we go­ing to start over from here.”

Con­fused and con­cerned about how to move for­ward, she ap­pealed for help with con­struc­tion ma­te­ri­als, cloth­ing or any oth­er form of as­sis­tance.

Mean­while, Moru­ga/Table­land MP Michelle Ben­jamin vis­it­ed the fam­i­ly and promised as­sis­tance. Any­one will­ing to as­sist can con­tact the fam­i­ly at 361-8704.