(Trinidad Guardian) A seven-year-0ld boy playing with matches accidentally torched his family’s home, leaving 11 people homeless.
With their home now destroyed, a Moruga family is now planning a “sit down” with their children to discuss fire safety.
The fire that destroyed the Mc Intyres’ four-apartment family home left six adults and five children with only the clothes on their backs. According to reports, when investigators spoke to the child’s mother, she admitted that her son was playing with matches and accidentally set the mattress on fire.
Pat Mc Intyre told Guardian Media yesterday that most of the family was at home along Richardson Street, Basse Terre on Monday.
She was in her upper apartment making a few calls and her daughter, who attends the University of the Southern Caribbean, was completing her assignments when smoke started rising through the floorboards.
With heat intensifying quickly, she said they ran downstairs and realised that the smoke was surrounding the house.
“I tried to go back up, but the smoke was black. The neighbours came out and tried to out it, but things started exploding so we just had to leave everything and head for the road. The house was very old, so it happened very fast,” Mc Intyre said.
The Princes Town Fire Station was contacted but the fire tenders had to leave Williamsville to reach Moruga. By the time they arrived, there was nothing to save. Even the pet rabbit Sparkle had already perished.
The family spent the night at various relatives and returned to ruins yesterday to decide on their step forward. Mc Intrye said that officials from the Moruga/Tableland Constituency Office had provided groceries as well as church members and other people brought food and clothing.
She said one of her nephews has to write the Secondary Entrance Assessment examinations on April 4 and has lost all his books and uniforms. She said the family was hoping to rebuild the house that she has lived in since she was a baby and is hoping to get building materials soon.
