Bush Hall pensioner saved from house fire by neighbours

Lamar Sandiford and about seven other neighbours were forced to ditch their shop conversation and jump into action to save a pensioner from a fire that engulfed his home at Bush Hall Yard Gap, St Michael.

Sandiford said it was not an easy effort but they were determined to rescue 81-year-old Hamilton Marshall who appeared equally determined to stay put.

The brave villager told Barbados TODAY: “We tried to save him and bring him out of there, but he was real stubborn coming out, so I had to use a little force but then the smoke was so thick I tell the guys we have to come out and wet the other sides of the house and make sure the rest of the people good. It is a lucky thing that we save he. You can get back a house anytime, but you can’t get back a life.”

Rommel Quimby, another member of the rescue team said they were happy to help as he recalled another incident a stone’s throw away in 1st Avenue Alleyne’s Land.

He said: “The last fire that we had out here that we tried to save, we could hear the old lady crying out for help, help… and now this year in Yard Gap itself, this is about five times we tried to save this house. To me, we all have to try to help one another.”

Marshall’s great-niece Shakera Marshall told reporters that Marshall is mentally challenged and her family has been seeking help for him.

She said: “We were supposed to get some help for him, some aid for him to put him in a facility or so from last year and nothing has happened. But now I guess that this happened, I guess that we will get some kind of help now.

“He was living there for all his life, this is a family house that he was living in…whatever was in there, what little was in there was lost, the only thing remaining is him.”

Attempts were being made to house the now homeless elderly man, she said.

Two fire tenders under the command of Divisional Officer Mervin Mayers responded to the blaze. (SD)