Several families are still coming to grips with last Saturday’s deadly apartment complex fire at Cummings Lodge, in which some lost everything, including loved ones.
Alani Ifill, 18, lost his mother, Beverly Miller, 40, and his brother, Dawall Ifill, 15, and step-father, Marvin Lewis, 46, in the fire after they were trapped in their apartment complex at E Half Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, which was destroyed by a fire, allegedly set by a relative of their landlord.
Up to Monday the suspect remained in custody.
“I feel bad about it [the fire], but I can’t do nothing about it, it done happen,” Alani said, when asked how he is coping after his family’s death. The teen said that he and his 15-year-old brother [previously reported as 14] had been close and even attended the Ash Educational Institute together, prior to his younger brother’s passing on Saturday evening.
Alani explained that he lived at the Cummings Lodge address for almost three years. He stayed with his mother’s sister, Desiree Miller, in one of the upstairs apartments. On Saturday, he was at his mother’s other sister, Charlene Miller. He said that he had been staying with his aunt for a while but all his belongings, including his school supplies and other personal belongings, were still at the Cummings Lodge apartment when the place went up in flames.
According to his grandmother, Hazel Duncan, she, Avani, Charlene and Charlene’s son were at home in La Parfaite Harmonie when they received a call from one of the cousins living at the apartment about the fire. This was around 5.30 pm.
Charlene and her son then left the West Bank and went to Cummings Lodge. By this time, they had already gotten the news about the untimely deaths of their relatives.
“It’s a sickening problem to tell because I have to live with it. It was unexpected. I’m trying to govern myself not to end up in the hospital. That’s my baby, she was my baby. He [Dawall] was my baby too, I love all my children and grandchildren,” Hazel told Stabroek News in a telephone interview.
Alani said after the deaths, his father came to visit him on Sunday, which he is grateful for.
Desiree and her four children, Cleon Williams, Ceon Williams, Sheila Miller, her grandson Jeremiah Miller, and her niece, Akaila Anthony, are also staying at Charlene’s home at La Parfaite Harmonie since losing their home on Saturday. At the moment the family has no idea of what their next step will be. All their belongings were destroyed in the fire.
Leon Richmond, Desiree’s husband, told this newspaper that since the fire the landlord hasn’t contacted the family, although the landlord’s family has reached out to enquire about the man suspected to have started the fire. The suspect is related to the landlord.
“The landlord daughter call me and when she called me, she was asking me what happened and telling me that she understand people saying [the suspect] light the fire. And all kind of thing. I told her at the time ‘Look I’m in no position to talk about that’ because what happen is my brain didn’t functioning the way it supposed to. Even on to now I’m still shaken. Like I deh pon a different world to talk to them. I saw her yesterday. She said she was going to the station and since then I haven’t seen her. Up to now the landlord ain’t call my phone up to now to ask me nothing. All they concerned with at the moment is the man, (who) is suspected to have started the fire,” Richmond said.
In addition, the families who lived at the apartment complex said that the entire place was grilled and while they never had any issues with this, they see now that the grills were not safe. The Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle, has said that the fire service is still investigating the cause of the fire and reason behind the family being trapped in their apartment.
Another tenant, Sonia Allen, 29, who spoke with Stabroek News on the night of the fire, said on Monday that she was informed of the fire by another Cummings Lodge resident.
“…He called me and told me that where I’m living, the place is on fire and that everything [was] lost. I call my workplace and I tell them to send somebody to relieve me ’cause I hear the place where I’m living is burning down. Anyway, nobody came to relieve me. I had to lock up the place and take the key to my workplace and when I reach where I was living, everything was completely burnt to the ground,” Allen said.
June was her second month living at Cummings Lodge with her family of three daughters, ages 11, 10 and 7, as well as her brother. (Previously Stabroek News erroneously reported that Allen lived with her husband instead of her brother.) At the time of the fire, her children were with her at work and her brother was not at home either.
Allen said that she and her family are now staying at one of her aunts in Campbellville. But while they have a roof over their heads for now, she is unsure of what or where to turn to for long term accommodation. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything and try to take it in. I don’t know what exactly I will do but I’m trying to work myself out to see if could start over,” she explained.
She said that all her belongings, which includes her children’s school supplies and personal records, burned in the fire. She mentioned that she recently bought textbooks and even purchased furniture from Courts, which she still has to pay for, but these items are no more.
While she is having a hard time accepting that she has lost an unknown amount of money in the fire, she still has to be strong for her children. But she is having a hard time doing so. “Well when they [her children] hear everything burn in the place, they said “mommy we lost everything, we tablets, everything,’ every single thing they lost. They was just crying all the time and I couldn’t really do anything because at the moment I was feeling hurt and I did can’t really comfort them too much. It was actually hard for me too,” she related. She also said that her eldest daughter had to sit the National Grade Six Assessment yesterday.
Additionally, Allen is upset that the landlord took a long to time to call and inform her of the fire. She added that she was eventually contacted by the landlord’s daughter, who advised her to go by her [the landlord’s daughter] rather than to the burning building. “She [the landlord’s daughter] didn’t want us to go there. We have lost stuff and she didn’t want us to go there. She want us to go by her and sit down. I couldn’t have done that. I had to go and see what was going on because I was living there,” she clarified.
Allen also said that she wishes to have her one month security deposit returned to her from the landlord since she has no other finances at this time. “I paid one month rent and one month security and I would just like to have back my security so that I can help my children and do stuff for them because my daughter is writing exams Wednesday and I really can’t help her to do anything,” Allen said.
Meanwhile, Coretta Woolford along with five children, ages 1 year 7 months to 12 years old, and a 13-year-old niece also lost everything in fire. They are currently seeking shelter at a house owned by the father of her children. Vanessa Beckles and one other are also currently seeking shelter at relatives after all their belongings were destroyed in the fire.
Persons wishing to assist any of these families can contact Coretta Woolford at 670-7577, Leon Richmond at 669-3873, Vanessa Beckles at 685-4255, and Sonia Allen at 666-7141.
